I heard a preacher (Chuck Swindoll) tell about a little boy who confessed in a note: "I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please; not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don't want enough of Him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. I want the warmth of a womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please." You know, little boys aren't the only ones who think that way about God.

While walking down Hollywood Boulevard, a friend of mine noticed a sign in a jewelry store window: "We rent wedding rings." Yes, I'm afraid there is a shortage on commitment going around today. Never before have there been so many people who are trying to get their priorities straight, but aren't willing to count the cost of commitment to really make things happen.

But, we don't understand. God doesn't come in a convenient $3 size, and a wedding ring you can rent isn't worth having. We have to understand that to get your priorities straight, there has got to be commitment.

A lot of times, people are like the smoker who said,” It’s easy to quit smoking. I've stopped hundreds of times!" You can make a change of life-style and habits, but it's a matter of commitment based on honest desire.

In John 5, we read about a man who learned this new lesson once and for all when he had a life-changing encounter with Jesus. John writes,

"Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate (not the cheap gate, like you look for at the stadium, but a sheep gate!) and there was by that gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. (Now we've all heard about Live-Aid and Gatorade and Welchade; what is a colonnade? It's simply an architectural term describing sort of a large pillared structure.) Now around this pool, among the colonnades, were a great number of disabled people just lying around--the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. But this one man, a cripple, had been lying there for (get this) thirty-eight years."

I'm not lying! He was--but I'm not. For thirty-eight years, this man had been there every day. This man had been sick for thirty-eight years. Every day, probably about the same time each day, he went to be with all his friends who were sick to sit at this beautiful pool at Bethesda. My guess is that he was not thrilled with his sickness, but after thirty-eight years, he had probably become comfortable with his situation. After all, he had acted like this for a very long time. Then Jesus comes along and bursts this guy's little comfortable bubble.

"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?' '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.' (Maybe read this with a whine in your voice.)

Jesus comes directly to the man and asks him a key question, "Do you want to get well?" That sounds simple enough. Our first thought is "What kind of question is that? Of course he wants to get well." Either Jesus is really stupid, or really rude, or really shrewd. What's the deal?

But notice the man's response. He doesn't answer with a "yes" or a "no"; he makes an excuse. The tradition was that occasionally an angel would touch down and cause ripples in this pool. According to the legend of the day, whoever was the first into the pool after the angel had touched the water would be healed again, and everybody else would be a rotten egg. This invalid began explaining to Jesus that every time the water was touched by the angel, somebody else would beat him into the pool.

But, Jesus doesn't take the excuse as an answer. Instead, he looks directly into the man's eyes and says, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." And the man kind of goes, "Huh? Okay." And John writes in verse 9, "At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked."

Now you and I are a lot like that man. We complain about this. We're unhappy about that. We regret this. We get depressed about that. But, we become very comfortable with our life-style and we always mean to make a change, but we never seem to get around to it. That's why this story is so troublesome. Instead of this sweet, meek Jesus coming along and patting this guy on the head like a dumb dog with a thorn in his paw, Jesus straightens this guy up and says, "Do you want to get well?" What are you really about? Do you really want to turn your life around? Are you really serious about commitment?

And I think that's what bothers us about this story. Sometimes, we're just like this sick man with our excuses. "When I get out of school, Lord . . ." "After I get married, Lord . . ." "When I become a senior, Lord . . ." "After you deal with my parents, Lord . . ." But Jesus looks us straight in the heart and says, "Now is the time to make your commitment. (Paint or get off the ladder.) Pick up your mat and walk, NOW. Don't let another day of excuses get in the way of your progress." I guess what it all boils down to is "Do you really want to get your life in order?" Do we really want to get well? If your answer "yes" to that question, Jesus is giving the same basic challenge to you; "Get up, pick up, and walk."

But what does that mean for you? Pick up what? Walk where? What are we really talking about? Here are some practical suggestions for people who are ready to move.

I. Know What You Want.

Have you ever heard the statement: "A person who aims at nothing hits it every time?" I'm convinced that a lot of well-meaning individuals never take the time to put in a simple sentence or two what they truly desire to do or to be. Many of these well-meaning individuals (and you might be one of them) don't have a clear-cut direction in life because they have confused priorities. They're like the drunk who, in trying to call a cab, was so confused and disoriented that he told the dispatcher, "I think I'm at the corner of 'Walk' and 'Don't Walk'."

Start out by taking a moment to think of something you would really like to do or be. Then write out a clear-cut mission statement of specifically what you would like to accomplish. Vagueness is not acceptable. Here are some examples. "I would like to graduate from college three years from today." "I want to read the entire Bible within one year." "I want to lose twenty pounds in three months." "I want to reach puberty in three weeks." Notice that these statements are very simple and clear. They tell exactly what you want to have happen and even when it should happen. With a clear mission statement, you are ready to set goals.

II. Set Specific Goals.

I asked a good friend of mine in the insurance business what had made him so successful. His simple reply was, "Set goals, set priorities, and be disciplined." Suppose your mission statement was, "I want to read the entire Bible in one year." Now, it is time to set specific goals. How will you accomplish this goal? You need a plan.

In this case, look at a calendar, and divide the pages and chapters of the Bible into twelve-month groups, or into 365 sections. Be sure to put your plan on paper. You'll also need a specific time each day to read. Be realistic with your goals or they will fade easily. For example, 11:30 at night would be the wrong time for me to read the Bible on a daily basis; I would fall asleep.

I suggest that when you set goals, you have some form of accountability for yourself. Ask a friend to help you. If your goal was to read the Bible, you could ask someone at your church to periodically check up on you. Measure your progress in small amounts. How did you do this week or this month? Don't pass up the opportunity to write out a mission statement and goals for your own life. It can make a difference of how you choose to live your life.

III. Commit Your Priorities to Jesus.

As a Christian, keep your priorities committed to the Lord. A good piece of advice to live your life around is this: And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him (Colossians 3:17).

Now, I know it's a struggle sometimes, but we've got to submit our priorities to Jesus. He is the Lord. He has the power. He is the divine helper. It just doesn't make sense to keep trying to do it on our own, and most often end up failing! When you commit your priorities to Jesus you can be assured of his desire to help and his deep concern for your best interest. Why choose a life without the power available to you for change through Christ?

This reminds me of a supposedly true story I heard years ago while I was growing up. It was said that in the dusty panhandle of Texas lived a farmer and his wife who had eked out a meager living for 30 years when one day, an impeccably dressed man in a three-piece suit drove a fancy car into their driveway, and strode up to their front door. He told the farmer that he had good reason to believe there was a reservoir of oil underneath his property. If the farmer would allow the gentleman the right to drill, perhaps the farmer would become a wealthy man. The farmer stated emphatically that he didn't want anyone messing up his property and asked the gentleman to leave.

The next year, about the same time, the gentleman returned to the dry, rickety farm house. Once again, he pleaded with the farmer who only said "no." This same experience went on for the next eight years, during which the farmer and his wife continued to struggle to make ends meet. Life was tough on the farm, and the crops hadn't been that good. Nine years after the first visit, the farmer came down with a disease that put him in the hospital. When the gentleman arrived to plead his case for test drilling that year, the farmer's wife reluctantly gave permission for the drilling.

Within a week, huge oil rigs were beginning to drill for oil. The first day, nothing happened. The second day was filled only with disappointment and dust. But, as you might have guessed, on the third day, right about noon, a little black liquid began to squirt up into the air. The oilman had found "black gold," "Texas Tea"--they had struck it rich. They had found underneath the farmer's property a huge reservoir of oil. The farmer and his wife were instantly millionaires.

As Christians, we have a reservoir of power for change in the Lord Jesus Christ, but we must tap into that reservoir of power. Just like that man "playing pool" under the colonnades, we play our games, make excuses, and become comfortable with self-pity. We decide that the problems are never our fault. Some people waste a month; some waste thirty-eight years, but whatever excuse you might have to keep you from committing your life to Christ is not enough. Just standing near the pool, and weakly pleading "yoo-hoo, over here" won't work. The Lord, the healer, challenges us to get up, pick up, and walk. That leads us to step four.

IV. Don't Put Off Your Important Priorities.

A lot of people realize that they need to commit themselves to the Lordship of Christ, but they tend to make excuses and put off the working out of that commitment. The excuses go on and on until they lose so much ground that they feel that making the change now would be pointless. So many of us seem to take the attitude:"Put off until tomorrow what you should take care of today." Unfortunately, there is another excuse tomorrow.

An evangelist once told a story that really hit home for me. A vulture was hungry, and while flying over the river, he saw a dead animal's carcass floating down the river on a piece of ice. The vulture landed on the ice and began to gorge himself with this delightful meal. He looked up to take a breath of air and noticed that he was 100 yards away from a waterfall and closing in fast on a long drop. Instead of flying right away, he kept eating as he watched himself approach the waterfall. At twenty-five yards, he decided to take one last bite. Then at ten yards, he took one last mouthful. With only yards before he would go over the falls, he tried to fly away only to discover that his feet were now frozen to the ice. He didn't have time to do anything about it as he tumbled to his death over the falls.

Don't make excuses and put off important decisions about setting priorities. Many a person has wasted their life by putting off the important long-term priorities in favor of more immediate short-term ones. That can be a serious mistake.

V. You Must Be Willing to Pay the Price.

Commitment is costly, but you're going to have to think long-term. You may have to say "no" to some things now so you can hear a "yes" in the long-run. Now for most of us, "long-term" means "after this weekend." But we're going to have to start thinking one year, three years, ten years down the road. That's why the Bible talks about the fact that what you sow, you will eventually reap. You may have to wait a few seasons, but eventually you'll see the fruits of your labor.

Perhaps you've heard the story about the chicken and the pig walking along a country lane one day. They passed an old dilapidated house with several barefoot, obviously underfed children playing in the front yard. As the chicken and the pig walked past this situation of genuine need, they shook their heads and grew silent.

Finally, the chicken broke the silence by commenting about how sad it was to see such need and human misery. The pig agreed wholeheartedly. Then the chicken said, "Well there ought to be something we can do." The pig responded, "You're right. There ought to be something we can do." With that, the chicken stopped in his tracks and shouted excitedly, "I've got it. I know what we can do. We can give those people the best ham and egg breakfast they've ever had."

Well, at first the pig thought it was a splendid idea, until he thought about it a minute longer. Then he said, "Wait a minute. I don't like that menu. For you, that means involvement, but for me, it means total commitment."

How right he was! And it's that difference between mere involvement and total commitment that often makes the difference between meeting our goals and just making more excuses. For thirty-eight years, the crippled man was involved with the day to day activities there at Bethesda. But it took a challenge from Jesus to get his rear in gear and bring him to point of commitment. The question was then, and still is: Do you want to be made whole? Do you want to make a change? If you do, then today is the day to make a commitment, set your goals, arrange your priorities and open yourself to what Jesus can do in your life. Get up, pick up, and walk!