Putting it to bed

It's the end of still another year, and Jesus did not come. This year we saw tumultuous protests of the police shootings and killings of unarmed black males, a devastating outbreak of disease in West Africa and the amazingly brutal actions of something we now know as Islamic State militants.

But through it all ... there is Jesus.

A Barna poll this morning shows that for the first time since the tracking began, Bible skepticism is tied with Bible engagement. Almost 2/3 of persons 48 years of age or younger are Bible skeptics.

But through it all ... there is Jesus.

They are literally fishing bodies out of an ocean where they fell from the sky this very day.

But through it all ... there is Jesus.

I'm reminded this morning of the man by the well who was paralyzed.

"... Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a]and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The question as the year slowly dies away, is do we want to get well? Do we want to stop all the stuff? Do we want this year to be better than last?

One way to show this is to show this.

Be better. Pick up your 2015 mat and walk, skip, jump, dance.

Because ... through it all there is jesus.