Rise, take up your bed, and walk

In John chapter 5, we read the account of Jesus at the pool of Bethesda. This pool was a place where people who were blind, lame, and paralyzed would come and lay. An angel would come down and trouble the water and the person who got into the water first would be healed. One man who had been infirm for 38 years was laying by the pool when Jesus approached him.

Jesus asked a simple question. Do you want to be made well? The man began to make excuses as to why he could not be healed. He had no one to put him in the water and had no one to help him. As you read this, I would challenge you to look at the question Jesus asked the man. He did not ask why the man was not healed. He asked the man if he wanted to be made well? Once the man gave his excuse, Jesus told him to arise, take up his bed, and walk. There is something deeper to this story than a man getting healed from a long-term sickness.

Many times we grow comfortable in our condition. There are many who are blind, have no vision for their lives, lame, at one time hurt and have never been the same since and paralyzed, stagnant in their lives trying to survive on the memories of the past. Each one of these conditions, plagues humanity today.

Jesus has approached us and asked if we want to be made well and instead of receiving the healing of our condition, we are full of excuses. One of the most common questions people ask is why am I here or what is my purpose. God wants us to know that, but we ignore what God is trying to show us and turn a blind eye to the path he has set before us.

Several people struggle with past hurt. We grow comfortable being the victim and like the attention it brings us. That hurt changed the way we walked, and we refuse to allow the healing to occur in our lives. Past hurt impacts our lives, but it does not have to keep us bound to the point where we cannot function.

Christ, counseling, and community can and will propel you forward. If you do not deal with he past hurt you run the risk of becoming stagnant or paralyzed. Just like muscles that are not used become atrophied, when we live in the past, we become atrophied. If the memories of the past are greater than the dreams of the future, you are destined to live in the past and become paralyzed.

Jesus told the man who was making the excuses, rise, take up your bed, and walk. We need to adopt this philosophy in our lives. Rise, get up and stop allowing the people around you or your circumstances to keep you down. God has you and he is there for you. He wants to lead you. Take up your bed, stop staying in the same mess you’re in. You can make it out. You can change your circumstances.

Walk, walking starts with one step followed by another step. You might walk slow but you are moving forward. Many are the plans in a man’s life, but it is the Lord who orders his steps. One final thought. Stop surrounding yourself with people who can only see you hurt and cannot see you healed. The waters troubled and the time is right. Rise, take up your bed, and walk.