Getting out...


Jesus later found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who made him well. John 5:14-15

Interesting statement made by Jesus. Here he says for the paralyzed man to stop sinning. Now I have no idea why Jesus would say this being that the scriptures are not clear on what exactly the man did. However, what can be deduced is that the man who was healed came right back to the place where he was paralyzed. The command that Jesus gave him was to “Get up and walk.” Well the man did, but after opposition he came right back to where he started. It is almost the same as a sinner that returns back to one’s old ways after God has brought them out of such a bad life. The Israelites did it all the time. The rebelled against God then came right back to the ways of sin. Here the man was saved then came right back to the place. Why do we do that? Why do we return back to the lifestyle that we are saved from? Maybe it is familiar, may be we perceive that it is too difficult for us to get out of the current lifestyle that we are in and just give up. Maybe, what happens is that we try to get out of the bad lifestyle but then get because of other that pressure us we return back to the life style we were in. But Jesus says, “Pick up your mat, and walk.” He didn’t say, pick up your mat and when it gets tough, come back. He said to walk.

You know I nearly passed by this verse but it just kept bothering me. I didn’t understand what exactly Jesus meant. However, what I know from this verse is that when Jesus frees you from something, don’t turn back, but if you do, He loves us enough that he will turn back and remind us to move on. That makes me leap for joy. God saves and continues to move us into His righteousness. He moves us to His glory. He moves us to His ways. He know that we are not perfect, but he brings us back when we are walking out of sync. He warns us, He comes back to us, He gives us the opportunity to change. I love that about God. I love that He is so good that and Loves us so much. My part is not to obey and listen to what He is saying. I need to obey when God calls, though I know that if I stray, He will be there to guide me back. God you are so good!

Lord thank you for loving us so much that you guide us back when we return to the muck of our lives. You are so good. Lord your love is awesome.

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