Get Up!

Matthew 20:31 The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
 
Mark 10:49-50 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
 
YOU’VE had a long day. Worse, it’s been a long week. And even worse it’s been a long, long time since you felt any joy or heard any hope in your heart as the friend who wrote, “I haven’t smiled inside and out for a long time.” Too often dark clouds seem to hover over your soul. You look around to see people enjoying life, loving others and being loved. You don’t have the relationships you’d hoped for, or they have disappeared as loved ones are gone from your life. You wonder, “Why can’t I have what they have?” You feel as an outcast. People talk to you, but no one knows what to really say because you seem so sad.
   Then one day you hear a voice say, “On your feet! Jesus is calling you.”  What? Jesus is calling me? Why would he care about me? Life is always handing me more heartache than I care to consider. Are you sure he’s calling me?  
   The Bible teaches Jesus does, indeed, call to you. Since the day Eve and Adam broke God’s command, the LORD has been calling to his creation, “Get up!” He said it to Gideon: Judges 7:9 During that night the LORD said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands.” Jesus said this to his disciples in Gethsemane’s sorrow: Luke 22:46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” He says it to the once-lame man now restored: John 5:8 “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” Do you think the Holy Spirit told Jesus, “Get up out of that grave!” The crowd urges Bartimaeus and his friend, “On your feet. He’s calling you.”
   Bartimaeus responded as we all should when the Lord commands, “Get up!” He threw his cloaks aside; he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. Bartimaeus wanted nothing to impede his run to Jesus.
   Has Jesus sent someone to urge you, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” Jesus calls us to stand up and go to him with heart, mind and soul. He urges us to encounter and overcome in his name all the things that keep us from him, especially your own discouraged mind.
   Jesus loves you. Yes, you’ve heard that before, but listen closely to the Son of God. Get out of your comfortable sad chair. Move off the easy couch of despair. Get on your feet, so you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand, to be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. (Ephesians 6:10, 13b) Get up and know what the Lord of Life has for you!
     Who knows, he might give you new eyes to see how wonderful life is when you know Jesus’ mercy is on you.