For my morning devotion I was reading Matthew 9: 1-9 in The Living Bible. I was struck by the phrase, “…jumped up and left!” When they bring the man on his mat to be healed Jesus heals him and tells him to go home. The Bible says, “…he jumped up and left.” Then Jesus sees Mathew the tax collector and calls him as his disciple. The Scripture notes, “Matthew jumped up and went.”

Thomas Merton wrote, “There is, in a word, nothing comfortable about the Bible-until we manage to get so used to it that we make it comfortable then we are perhaps too used to it and too at home in it. Let us not be too sure we know the Bible…just because we have learned not to have problems with it. Have we perhaps learned…not to really pay attention to it? Have we ceased to question the book and be questioned by it?”

Father, as I contemplated scripture this morning I was confronted by the urgency of the Bible. I was made uncomfortable by the need for speed. I could hear you saying, “Danny, quit lying down, get up and move. Why are you still sitting there?” Time to “..jump up and serve. Someone is hurting. Someone is crying, someone is in pain and needs a Savior. Why? Because you are still sitting there.”

Dear God, when someone hungers, make it our response to serve a meal spiritual and physical. When one of us is displaced, make it our urgency to house. Dear God help us to move today and stand with our brother and sister in pain. May we find peace in the urgency to bring others to you. Amen.

Get up and move on the path today. What re you doing still sitting there?

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