Where do you worship God? I’m not asking for a geographic location—latitude and longitude.

I’m asking for places in your life where you want to get well.

For a man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years, it was when Jesus met him at a pool in Jerusalem. It was a place where “a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.” (John 5:1-5).

Why were so many blind, lame and paralyzed people gathered at that pool? People believed that in order to be healed, they had to be the first person into the pool when the water was stirred”. (John 5:7).

“When Jesus saw [the invalid] lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”. (John 5:6).

This question by Jesus always resonates with me—and not just because I limp from my badly broken ankle almost 20 years ago.

It resonates with me because all of us—including me—have gone astray, and fallen short of the glory of God. (Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:23).

All of us—including me—need to ask ourselves if we want to get well.

All of us need to reach places in our lives and in our civilizations where we ask ourselves, do we want to get well?

In these “places of worship” we ask ourselves and our civilizations questions such as:

Do we truly want to get well so we walk in the Way of Jesus?

Do we truly want to love the LORD our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength? (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37-38).

Do we truly want to love our neighbor as ourself? (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39-40).

Do we truly want to walk in the Way of Jesus so that we fulfill the ideals of the Law of Moses and the Prophets? (Matthew 5:17; 22:40)

Do we truly want to walk in the Way of Jesus so we put into practice his words in the Sermon on the Mount? (Matthew 7:24-27).

Or are we like the invalid?

He didn’t answer Jesus’ question.

Instead, he made excuses.

He told Jesus, “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.” (John 5:7).

What are our excuses? Why have we been waiting “thirty-eight years” to get well?

No more excuses!

No more delays!

Jesus commanded the invalid, “‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.’ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.” (John 5:8-9).

What excuses are we making in our lives? What excuses are we making in our civilizations?

Why any more delays in putting into practice the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount?

These are the questions to ask ourselves and our civilizations in our “places of worship.”

Then, we need to answer these questions by picking up the “mats” that made it easier for us to make excuses and ignore delays.

The time has come to walk in the Way of Jesus!

No more excuses!

No more delays!

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To read about additional places of worship, please read my blogs “Places of Worship—Rainbows”, “Places of Worship—Stone Pillows”, “Places of Worship—Crossing Streams”, “Places of Worship—Burning Bushes”, “Places of Worship—Seeing and Hearing”, “Places of Worship—Following the Way of Jesus”, and “Places of Worship—Spirit and Truth”.

To read about putting into practice the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, please read my blogs “Building Houses on Rock: Mission Impossible?”, “Building Houses on Rock: Mercy and Forgiveness”, “Building Houses on Sand: Specks and Planks”, and “Building Houses on Rock: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”; and the chapter “After the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Touches a Leper” in my book Hoping in the LORD, at pages 119-122.