Pick up your mat

So why is it that when the Lord heals us of anything, we act as though nothing has changed. Maybe i am alone in this thought, but i have seen it in my life... often. I think it has a lot to do with an excuse mentality. We are all carrying or have carried something wether that be a sin struggle, a past triumph, a hardship, anything, we have all carried or are carrying something that is heavy and we take it with us everywhere. 

There is a story in John 5 about a man who had an infirmity for thirty- eight years who was sitting at the Pool of Bethesda. Jesus saw the man and asks, 

"Do you want to be made well? The sick man answered Him, 'Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.' "

Jesus asks a man who has been sick for almost 40 years if he wants to be made well and he responds with an excuse! The solution is in front of him, but he can only focus on why he can't. Jesus then responds,  

"Rise up, Take your mat and walk. And immediately the man was made well, took up his mat, and walked." 

I read this story and think this man is crazy, i'd say YES SIR i want to be made well hello? but than i realize i am usually the man on the mat. Everyday Jesus sits with me and says do you want to be made well? do you want me to carry that? do you want that to be lifted? Do you want me to take that lie and give you truth? and we hold on to what is now "comfortable" and we make an excuse when the cure is in front of us. I am reading a book called The Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel and he talks about this man and how when we don't think things in our life can change, it is because we are continually making excuses and not paying attention to surrendering to the solution.

John doesn't finish the story here, he says the man takes up his mat and walks. He does not receive Jesus's healing and continues sitting on his mat when he is made well to get up and live! No, he takes the mat he has always been sitting on and he walks away with it. Imagine the testimonies we would have to proclaim the grace of God if we would take what Jesus has made well in our lives and use it to tell of his goodness! I do not want to sit another day on my mat of comfort, telling Christ the cross wasn't enough for me because he has made me well, and i will take my mat and use it for His glory. No more excuses. The Lord has made us well, now what do we do with it?

We get to change the world!