from Pleasant Grove Baptist Church http://bit.ly/2JdJOYP
via IFTTT Man's wisdom says "take care of yourself", "fight to get ahead", "if you don't fight for yourself, no one will". Lies! In this story we see a crippled man, unable to care for himself. No family, no friends, all alone in the world. No one could help him. this pool of water, supernatural healing powers, was his only hope. Tradition says that daily an angel would appear at this pool of water, and when the angel stirred the waters, the first person to touch the water was healed. Wow! If he could just get to the water, this poor man could be whole and well again! Daily he watched others come and receive. The story was true! Whoever touches the waters was healed. One. The first one. The one that was at the front of the line. The one that fought to get ahead. But this man could not. He was too weak, too frail, incapable of winning the race. He could not get to the water before someone else raced past. So he sat. Mere feet from success, day after day. Watching others walk away well, because they raced past him . But one day Jesus showed up. Now envision the scene. Many sick people laying around the pool. Waiting, anxious to press ahead. Ready to fight to get what they needed. Who did Jesus go to? The one man who kept loosing! The one that could not, would not fight others to win. Winning implies a looser. One can not win unless someone else looses. How is that "loving your neighbor as yourself"? How is winning at the expense of others any form of love at all? This poor suffering man who people ignored, he met Jesus that day. Sure... He received his healing, but more importantly HE MET JESUS! He was the only one! All the others, those stepping past or even over this man to get ahead, they didn't meet Jesus. Maybe those individuals got what they wanted, their own healing, but they didn't meet Jesus. They didn't look into his eyes. They didn't feel Jesus hand helping him up. This man, he met Jesus. Jesus is not at the front of a line. He is not there to bless the one who fights others less capable. Jesus is at the end of the line, to those who need Him most. Jesus meets the humble, the helpless. Have you spent your life fighting to get ahead? To get to the front of the line? Have others had to wait so that you could enjoy some blessing? Did you meet Jesus in that win? Did you come away from that experience with more than you fought for? If not, try life God's way. Love your neighbor. Put others before you. Step aside and let one less capable go ahead. Help someone into the healing waters instead of stepping ahead. Love. And in this, you too can meet Jesus. The world is wrong. Success does not come from winning over others. Success does not come from "winning" at all. That is a desperately selfish, wicked view of life. That is Satan's way... Win! No, not win, but love. Put others first. Seek to meet Jesus instead of win. Seek to watch others get what you want. Help them succeed. Give up your place for them. And meet Jesus.
