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Scripture for the day: Mark 3:3-5 And He said to the man with the withered hand, “Step forward.” Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill? But they kept silent. And when he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.
Thought for the day: The story of Jesus healing the man with the withered hand is just too good to pass up; it’s been one of my favorites for a long time. Without this incident, and others like it, there would not have been large crowds following Jesus and we wouldn’t be challenged to “step forward,” ourselves.
I have a story to tell you that seems to have little to do with this scripture, but in truth it does. Read on:
The story is told of a country lad who was hired for a salesman's job at a city department store. It was one of those massive stores that has every department imaginable. In fact it was the biggest store in the world - you could get anything there.
The boss said, "You can start tomorrow, Friday morning, and I'll come and see you when we close up." When the boss looked up the young man the next day at closing time, he saw him shaking hands with a beaming customer. After they parted, he walked over and asked, "Well, that looked good! How many sales did you make today?"
"That was the only one," said the young salesman.
"Only one!?!" blurted the boss. "Most of my staff make 20 or 30 sales a day. You'll have to do better than that! Well, how much was the sale worth?"
"$227,340 and change," said the young man.
The boss paused for a moment, blinking a few times. "H... H... How did you manage that?!?"
"Well, when he came in this morning I sold him a small fish hook. Then, I sold him a medium hook, and then a really large hook. Then I sold him a small fishing line, a medium one, and then a big one. I then sold him a spear gun, a wetsuit, scuba gear, nets, chum, and coolers. I asked him where he was going fishing and he said down the coast. We decided he would probably need a new boat, so I took him down to the boat department and sold him that twenty-foot schooner with the twin engines. Then, he said that his Volkswagen probably wouldn't be able to pull it, so I took him to the car department and sold him the new Deluxe Cruiser, with a winch, storage rack, rust proofing, and a built-in refrigerator. Oh, and floor mats."
The boss took two steps back and asked in astonishment, "You sold all that to a guy who came in for a fish hook?!"
"No," answered the salesman. "He came in to buy a blanket."
"A blanket?"
"Yeah, an extra blanket for the couch. He just had a fight with his wife. I said to him, 'Well, your weekend's ruined, so you may as well go fishing...'"
One thing leads to another. And that's the way it should work in our spiritual lives. The man in the synagogue was perhaps there to see Jesus. We don’t know if he’d heard that Jesus was going to be there that day or not. We do know that he was a man of some faith for he was in the service that morning. We don’t know the depth of his faith or if he had any opinion concerning who this Jesus was; he may have looked on Him as a great prophet or healer. What we do know is that, like everyone else Jesus encounters, the man was challenged to “step forward.”
If this man were to receive anything from the Lord, he was required to step out of the shadows and into the light. He needed to be willing to take that step of faith, leave all those behind who would not step forward as well, and stand face to face with the Lord. Then, and only then, could he hope to secure the one thing he needed in life more than any other.
You may not have a shriveled hand, but I’m convinced there is something in each or our lives that causes the Lord to say to us, “Step forward.” Wherever you are in your spiritual life, I pray that you'll take a step up today. There’s no telling where it will lead by the end of the day.
Now go take on your world. - Bill