It cannot help if you don't take it.

I'm not feeling well today.  I think I have a bad cold (I've never met a good cold though).  I woke up several times during the night with pressure and pain and now my neck is extremely stiff.  When I got up this morning I decided I needed to take some medicine. I am blessed to be able to work from home and I felt like I needed to find some relief this morning so that I could focus on my job.

I went and got some medicine from the medicine cabinet and made my tea and put the kettle on.  I came into the office and started my quiet time when the kettle went off.  As I walked back to the kitchen I started to wonder when the medicine would kick in and I would feel better. I debated if I needed to take something different, stronger, or maybe this wasn't just sinues/cold and something that would require a physician.  All this as I'm going into the kitchen and preparing my oatmeal. 

I came back into the office still focusing on how long it would take before I could get some relief when I sat back down at my desk and saw it.  The medicine that I had gotten out of the cabinet over an hour ago, sitting on my desk, I hadn't taken it.  No wonder it wasn't working. 

If you have been reading this blog long at all, you probably already know where I am going with this.  The medication was not at fault.  I was because it couldn't do it's job until I used it, until I had opened it and taken it in. 

Yeah, just like Jesus.  How long has it been since you have opened up your bible?  Is it still sitting on the coffee table and are you dusting it once a week?  It's not going to do you a bit of good unless you open it up and take it in. 

What about our Heavenly Father?  He sent His son but unless you open your heart to Him and accept Him, take Him in, He cannot do you one bit of good. 

God is the great physician, healer, and the giver of life, but He cannot work if we do not believe in Him and just because you buy the medicine and put it in your cabinet, or even open the package and put it on your desk, it cannot do what it was created to do unless it is inside you.

Friends, we cannot do what God has created us to do unless He is working inside us.  So do me a favor, take your medicine. 

Today's verse: 

23Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. (Matthew 4:23)