the oops button...

I like the commercials for Staples. You know the ones... someone has run out of an office supply... they start to lose it... as if the world is quickly coming to an end. Then right on the edge of a breakdown someone hits the "Staples Easy Button" and all is well.

Don't you wish it was really that simple? Whether we are talking about office supplies... or things that matter a whole lot more. A few weeks ago a friend told me he wished we had an "oops button." It would be so helpful! Whenever you said or did something that you later wished you had not done... punch the "oops button" and it is all cleared up. When you have been misunderstood... punch the "oops button." Just think of all the things that could be handled by this one simple thing.

Unfortunately we do not have an oops button. If there were an oops button there would surely be an empty spot in John 5. John 5 starts with a great story. John introduces us to a man who is lame... he has been lame for 38 years - think how his life would have been different if someone pushed the oops button... He is laying beside the pool called Bethesda. Jesus walks up and asks a question that seems weird. What we find out is that folks are laying by this pool hoping to be the first one in when the waters are stirred. Whoever was first was healed of their disease. Jesus approaches the man and asks him if he wants to get well.

How would you have responded? Consider these possibilities: Of course I want to get well! That is why I'm here. I've given up after all these years. That's just a distant, forgotten dream. He could have said a lot... but his response is filled with brokeness... I can't get there first. I have tried but someone always gets there first.

If I had been there I would have clarified my question. "I did not ask why you are still here. What I asked was do you really want to get well?" Jesus does not respond that way... He simply says, "get up, take your mat and go."

Imagine what might have raced through the man's mind. Get up? I would love to get up. I can't get up that's why I am here... None of that happens. John says IMMEDIATELY the man got up. We find out he did not even know who Jesus was, but for some reason when Jesus told him what to do... He did it.

I am sure we would all need an "oops button" a lot less if we learned from this lame man... whatever Jesus says... don't argue... don't fight it... don't rationalize some other action... just do it!

Today... are you struggling with something? Maybe for so long that you have all but given up...

Today... have you heard the word from the Lord but chosen not to IMMEDIATELY do it?

Today... get up... pick up your mat... walk!