Quit Begging For Coins, Start Expecting Change

​We can get so used to the negative patterns in our lives that we stop imagining the patterns can ever change. We can get so rooted in hopelessness that it no longer feels like hopelessness, it just feels like life.

In the book of Acts in the bible we read the following story:

Every day, a man who had never been able to walk was carried to a gate outside the temple called “Beautiful.” He sat there and begged for money because that was the only way he could survive.

One afternoon, Peter and John were walking into the temple to pray. The man saw them and asked for money like he always did.

Peter stopped, looked right at him, and said, “Look at us.” So the man looked up, expecting some coins.

But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold. But what I do have, I will give you. In the name of Jesus Christ - walk.”

Then Peter took the man by the hand and helped him up. Immediately the man’s feet and legs became strong. He didn’t just stand - he started walking, then jumping, then celebrating.

He followed Peter and John into the temple, walking and leaping and thanking God out loud.

Everyone there recognized him - the same man who always begged outside the gate. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing. The whole crowd was filled with wonder and amazement at what God had done.

I wonder how long ago the man had given up on the miracle of ever walking again.

I wonder how long the man had been begging for help to survive instead of expecting a chance to heal.

How long had the man been dreaming about making it through another day and not imagining and expecting a completely different life?

And what about us?

How many of us are begging our way through the day instead of expecting change that will open doors to a completely different way? A way that will leave people marveling about what God has done in our lives.

I fear that I - and maybe you - get so used to begging humans to do for us what only humans can do, that we stop expecting that God will show up and do what only God can do.

Maybe as we enter 2026 we can shift some of our expectations?

And maybe at the end of 2026, people around us will be filled with wonder and amazement at what God has done.

Quit begging for coins; start expecting change.