Acts 3:2

New International Version (NIV)

Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.

For meditation

Our house help, Ernestine, is so caught up in her ways that it’s not funny. She has a daily routine for cleaning and nothing can change it. When I am working in my office and the time comes for her to clean it, I have to leave or she would clean around me. She is on her routine, and though she could do something else and give me time to finish what I am doing, she wouldn’t.

That is how we act sometimes. We get caught up in a certain routine and settle comfortably in it. It gets to a point where we become unbending and unexpecting. Once our mind is locked into doing something in a certain way and time, nothing should disrupt us. We expect no change and scream when it comes. Even when God shows up with something new for us, we could miss it; and how many times has that happened!

The cripple who was healed at the Beautiful Gate had his routine (Acts 3:1-8). Every day, he was carried from his house to the temple gate to beg for money (2). I am sure he had his favorite sitting spot nobody could occupy. That was his routine, and the day Peter came by was no different. But God had something different for him that day. He asked Peter for money, but God gave him the ability to walk and make a living for himself. “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (6). With that gracious command, the crippled man’s routine was broken. A new life opened to him, a life that gave him cause to praise God in the temple (8).

1. Have you been caught up in a certain routine that has enslaved you?
2. What will it take to get you out of it?
3. Some routines are good; but do you know that when they become rigid and legalistic, they can lose their essence?
4. Are you not glad that like the cripple at the beautiful gate, God can break into your daily routine and bring you into a new experience with Him?
5. Are your eyes and ears tuned to see and hear Jesus in your daily routine? Are you ready for a change?

I pray that as you go about your daily routine, you will leave room for God to interfere to refresh and reset your life.

So: May you get ready for a pleasant surprise from Jesus today as He comes into your crippling routine; and may “He put a new song in [your] mouth, a hymn of praise” to celebrate God’s goodness (Ps. 40:3).

Shalom