We all don’t always feel well each and every day; however, no matter how we feel we should Get Up, Dress Up, Show Up, and Never Give Up.
Get Up: Some mornings we may feel like just staying in bed, either because of a physical feeling or something we must do today that we aren’t eager to do. We should get up anyway as nothing will be accomplished by staying in bed. First, recognize that you have life to get up because the dead cannot get up. We have physical life to get up and we have spiritual life to get up and be about the Master’s business, not for the work of redemption but the work of faith to show our love for Him delivering us from the penalty of sin and quickening us by His Spirit. They brought to Jesus a man sick of the palsy and in bed, unable to walk. They made a hole in the roof of a house and let the man down in the presence of Jesus. Jesus showed to those present that the Son of man had power of earth to forgive sins. Jesus speaks to the man, “I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.” (Mark 2:11). He immediately arose and walked before them all that they were amazed and glorified God, saying they had never seen it on this fashion. This sick man had the ability to get up and go to His house because of what Jesus had done. We have the ability to get up from our lethargic apathy and do as He has commanded, and we will abundantly reap the rewards. You will feel better for having done so.
Dress Up: After we get up in the morning, we get dressed and begin to go about our daily activities. We don’t go out into the world before our fellow peers in trashy clothes; we dress to be appropriately presentable. Likewise we are to dress up with the appropriate clothing that will glorify God. Isiah tells us, “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.” (Isa. 52:1). We aren’t to be attired with the filthy garments of the world but with the beautiful spiritual garments that glorify God. The works of the flesh are not beautiful in the eyes of God but the fruit of the Spirit is another matter. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. Surely these are some garments that we should be dressed with. Peter tells us to be clothed with humility for God resisteth the proud but giveth grace unto the humble. Thus Peter speaks, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:” (I Peter 5:6). So no matter how we feel, dress up and we will feel better.
Show Up: Some people get up and get dressed but never show up for work where they are employed. Maybe they want to go fishing or shopping etc rather than fulfill their obligation. They want to do their own thing. There is a way that seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (Prov. 14:12). Do we show up in the service of God as we should? Do we attend the house of God as religiously as we would in punching the time clock at the place of employment? The individual that didn’t show up for work is unlikely to show up in the house of God. On the other hand, those that always punch in at work will sometimes fail to show up in church. God has given us a light within and it is not to be put under a bushel. It is to be shown forth to the glory of God. Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16). God has appointed us to obtain salvation through Jesus Christ and not to wrath which we all deserved. He has also appointed us through the new birth and access to the gospel to show something in us. Peter tells us, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:” (I Peter 2:9). Notice that we are to show forth the priase because we have been called out of darkness. Show up in the service of God and you will feel better.
Never Give Up: When things aren’t going our way and times are hard, we might be ready to throw in the towel and give up. However, God’s word tell us otherwise and gives us Jesus as our example. In spite of how He was treated in this world, He never gave up in His commitment to the One that judgeth righteously in all His works. Jesus always prayed to the Father and He left us this remedy when we are ready to give up. Jesus said, “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;” (Luke 18:1). The word “faint” means to be weary and weak to the point of giving up. Praying to the God who is ABLE to save will give courage to press on. We may consider our situation hopeless as we contemplate our course. But we need to consider someone else and that is Jesus. Paul writes in Hebrews 12:3: “For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.” (Heb. 12:3). Jesus endured so much because of His love for us so that we should never give up. Unless God has shown us that the door is closed, we are to keep on knocking and knocking at His door until He sees fit to open it. Never give up and look to Jesus and we will all feel better, how we started out the day’s journey.–September 27, 2013–Elder Larry Wise
