Today’s article is another installment in Brother P.’s column, “Lessons From the Nursing Home.”

You may have heard that my job consists of walking with people in a nursing home. However, before you can walk, you’ve got to get out of bed, and sometimes the old-timers do not want to get up.

Unfortunately, as we age, we decline at an ever-increasing rate, and too much bed can destroy our bodies. Often, the person has just had a surgery or some long hospital stay, and getting out of bed can hurt.

So, sometimes, I have to give them the lecture that basically goes something like this: I cannot force you out of bed, but I guarantee that tomorrow it will be much harder than today, and the day after that will be even worse. Too many days will lead to your demise, and we don’t want to see that, so let’s get out of bed and live.

That reminds me of the preacher who was talking at Church on Sunday. He said that it was easy for the Israelites to look to the brazen serpent and live (Numbers 21:6) just like it’s easy to look to Christ and live.

I always wonder why the Israelites wouldn’t just look and live. Seems easy enough. Maybe they just spent too much time denying that Moses wasn’t chosen by God (in the brazen serpent example). Maybe I just spend too much time deciding that He can wait until tomorrow for me to make up my mind.

Get out of bed and live.

This article has undergone ministry review and approval.