Over the last week a phrase has come up several times in my readings, and I’ve learned when that happens it is best to pay attention to it. That phrase is, “Get up.”

• – It shows up in the second chapter of the New Testament. An angel of the Lord tells Joseph to, “get up, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.” Matthew 2:13, 20
• – Jesus told a paralyzed man on his mat to get up in Matt 9:6, a story which is also recorded by Mark and Luke.
• – In Matthew 17, Peter, James, and John had fallen on their faces after witnessing the transfiguration. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,”he said. “Don’t be afraid.” Matthew 17:7
• – The tragic account of a dead girl appears in Mark 5:41 and Luke 5. Jesus takes her by the hand, and you guessed it, says get up.
• – Luke records Jesus entering a town called Nain and as he goes in, a funeral party is heading out of the city. It was the only son of a widow, who was riddled with grief. Jesus touched the frame carrying the young man and he said, get up. Luke 7:14
• – In John 5:8, Jesus saw a man who was disabled and had been laying at the pool of Bethesda for 38 years. In this incident Jesus asked the man, “Do you want to get well?” Jesus doesn’t acknowledge the man’s excuses but answers the cry of his heart. “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”

I am naïve enough to think Jesus continues to ask us the question, “Do you want to get well?” And so, I’m forced to ask myself, “Do I really want to get well or am I so attached to my illness, addiction, perspectives, power, position, (fill in the blank) that I prefer illness to health?”

Work is a place where our faith is tested, and our wounds are exposed. Work is a place of opportunity to see the corners of our heart that have atrophied or even died.

Sometimes Jesus reached out his hand but every time he admonished, “get up.” Don’t mistake this as the echoing voice of an old coach or an angry parent. “Get up,” is an invitation to participate in the life, healing, and wholeness Jesus offers.

Rueben Job says,

“I am asked to take some specific actions to open the doors to healing. Do I want to be well? Yes, yes, even if it means taking up my bed and carrying what has been carrying me. I am indeed helpless on my own, and I am indeed invincible with God. God does have the ability to make me whole once again. In obedience I will take up my bed and walk on the pathway to wholeness.”

Before you move on to the rest of your day, pause and ask God, “How are you asking me to get up?” and “What are you asking me to take up?”