Pick It Up

Pick It Up

The paralyzed man’s friends wanted to get him in the Presence of Jesus, but there was no room in the house where He was teaching. So what did they do? They formulated a plan. This plan had a little “redneck” in it, and I can only imagine the conversation and ingenuity that went into the plan – but they took the tiles off the roof of the house and lowered the man down on his mat, right into crowded room.

The Scripture says when Jesus saw “their faith,” he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” Right away this should bring to mind how important the right friends are. The right friends will bring you to Jesus, will pray for you, will be there for you. No doubt the man’s own faith also played a part, because presumably he agreed to the plan, so when Jesus said, “their faith,” he was likely referring to all of them.

Then Jesus said to the man, “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” The spiritual healing was followed by the physical healing. The Scripture says this man was paralyzed – not just debilitated and maybe he could muster up the strength to get up at various times – but paralyzed in some way. So his ability to rise as Jesus instructed him caused amazement in the whole room.

Why did Jesus include the instruction for the man to pick up his bed?

Could it be that he wanted the man to know he was not coming back to that place, to the place of needing the mat? What was the man’s response? He picked it up and “went home, glorifying God.” He immediately gave praise and honor where it was due. The mat, the thing that had supported him, he now had control of.

How many of us, though, when Jesus has done great things for us, don’t pick up our mat, so to speak, but continue to try and lie in the mess he saved us from? Maybe we leave the “mat,” in case we want to go back to it; we allow it to control us rather than us having control of it.

Don’t leave the remnant of your problem, but pick it up, and put it in its proper place.

Don’t let the past you’ve overcome be a part of your future.

(Luke 5:17-26)