Its Time
Following Jesus is often quite
challenging. Sometimes He asks
us very uncomfortable questions.
Like the time when He
found a man who had been
lying on his mat next to a pool
on the outskirts of Jerusalem, for
18 years. Hoping for an unlikely
miracle. “Do you want to get well?” Jesus asked
him. What kind of a question is that? Of course he
did. There were just some things in the way.
But Jesus’ questions are deep, and insightful.
“You’ve been lying in this place of defeat for a
while now. It’s not your fault – there’s no one here to
help you. But none of that is helpful, and you’re just
accepting that defeat. You’re speaking to the Lord
of Creation – do you want this enough to have me
change your life for the better? Right now?”
Then, Jesus asked him to do some very difficult
things. First, stand up. With faith that I will heal you,
stretch out your crippled legs, lift up your frail body.
Then, roll up your mat – your place of comfort,
where you’ve been lying in defeat. Roll it up so you
can’t go back to it. Then, walk… Where to Lord?
Into the life that I created you for. Into the life that
you’ve been hiding from.
What places of defeat are you and I lying next to?
Work? Health? Addiction? Relationships? We’ve
been there a long time. It’s not our fault – life put us
there. We can’t do anything about it – that’s just how it is.
Well, it’s time. Jesus is standing there, with his hand
outstretched, ready to help us up. So that we can roll
up our mats, and walk away from those places with
Him. If we really want to.
Blessings, Andrew.