Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room
January 28, 2025
Mark 2:1-12
1 After a few days, Jesus went back to Capernaum, and people heard that he was at home. 2 So many gathered that there was no longer space, not even near the door. Jesus was speaking the word to them. 3 Some people arrived, and four of them were bringing to him a man who was paralyzed. 4 They couldn’t carry him through the crowd, so they tore off part of the roof above where Jesus was. When they had made an opening, they lowered the mat on which the paralyzed man was lying. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven!” 6 Some legal experts were sitting there, muttering among themselves, 7 “Why does he speak this way? He’s insulting God. Only the one God can forgive sins.” 8 Jesus immediately recognized what they were discussing, and he said to them, “Why do you fill your minds with these questions? 9 Which is easier—to say to a paralyzed person, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take up your bed, and walk’? 10 But so you will know that the Human One has authority on the earth to forgive sins” —he said to the man who was paralyzed, 11 “Get up, take your mat, and go home.” 12 Jesus raised him up, and right away he picked up his mat and walked out in front of everybody. They were all amazed and praised God, saying, “We’ve never seen anything like this!”
Good Morning. Jesus says, “Child, your sins are forgiven!”
When I was a child, my friends and I couldn’t wait for school to end so that we could go outside and play. Of course, we had to change out of our school clothes first, but then we ran outdoors and stayed until dinner time, or it became dark. No one needed to tell us to get up. Sitting for too long made us antsy.
Compare that to today’s children. What is the first thing most kids want to do when they get home from school? They can’t wait to use their devices to play games or watch videos. They seem to have lost the natural desire to get up and go outside.
What about those of us who grew up with that desire? Is it still within us, or have we lost it as well? We certainly have a long list of things that require us to sit and work inside, but we also fall down the “rabbit hole” and spend hours on apps like Facebook and Pinterest or watching TV. At some point, we look up and say, “Oh man, I was going to work in my flower bed, and now it’s dark.”
Jesus calls us to get up. The Christian dictate is to go and make disciples in Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. This is not a passive calling. It requires action! It requires opening the door and entering the messy world where our work awaits us. Too many times, we get caught up in planning meetings to determine how to help the needy, and we run out of time to actually provide help at the moment it’s needed.
Imagine planning a warming shelter so that the homeless have a place to stay when it is cold, but the planning takes so long that now it's summer, and the need doesn’t exist. Jesus says, Get Up Now! We’ve been sitting on our mats long enough! Get up and do the work of Christ.
Loving Lord, Maker of all things! You love us! Help us take an active role in your plan of gathering the lost and helping the needy so that all may find their way home. Thank you! In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: Serve the Lord with gladness!
Get up! It’s time to go to work! Pastor Liz
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