Scripture

Our verse for today comes from Acts 3:7, “And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.”

Background

I have never seen someone go from lame to walking. Unfortunately, I have seen the opposite. At my son’s football game one Saturday, one of his teammates was running to make a tackle. But when he collided with the opposing player, he dropped to the ground, motionless. And there he laid. As the coaches rushed to him, as the EMS team treated him, he did not move a muscle. Even as they wheeled him into the ambulance, he remained unconscious. It was a tragic sight, an eleven year-old riding off to a hospital, his dad walking off the field into a world of complete unknown. His son couldn’t walk. Maybe today he can. Or maybe by next week. But perhaps not. His feet and ankle bones need help. They need to be healed from the injury or trauma of Saturday night. If he could walk, he would. He would walk for miles if necessary. If there was someone to take him by the right hand and give him back his legs, he would grab him with all his might and get out of that bed. He needs to be healed, and he wants to be healed.

Application

Your legs probably work better than his. Even if you struggle with a cane or crutches, your legs work better. But how is the rest of you? Where is there within you that needs healing and strength? It’s not as obvious to us as a youngster lying on a stretcher. There’s no special vehicle that pulls up and carries you off to a place of help. In fact, you might be going to great lengths to hide much of the hurt and need within you. You may even wish your legs didn’t work so that someone would come along beside you and offer help and comfort. But too many of us don’t. You are hurting, struggling, perhaps even drowning, and where is the help? People are all around you, but where is the help? And if you could be that help, then where are you? Fighting your own battles, for sure. But there’s more to do than that. You can help. To be sure you can ask and offer. It’s time to realize who around you has dropped to the ground, motionless. It’s time for you to take someone by the hand and lift them up.

Charge

As we seek Him today, ask another for help if that is what you need. And ask another if you can help them, for that is what they surely need. Remember whose hands and feet you are.

Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words