Everything: What You Give and What You Gain to Become Like Jesus by DeMuth Mary

Author:DeMuth, Mary [DeMuth, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2012-10-16T00:00:00+00:00

Why go back and mud-wrestle the past? Because Jesus asks us to.

The man didn’t answer the question with a joyful, “Yes, absolutely, I want to get well.” Instead he offered excuses, blaming others for his lack of healing. I wonder whether we do the same: “I’m messed up because of the way I was raised.” “I can’t change; this is how I’m wired. I’m just like my dad.” “People keep re-injuring me, so what’s the point of trying to be healthy?” It’s easier to pass off our healing to another person, to blame others for our lack of spiritual health and growth. But Jesus didn’t ask the people around the lame man, “Hey, why aren’t you putting him in the water?” No, He directly addressed the lame man, the one who needed healing. And He does the same with you.

Would you like to get well?

Or would you rather be stuck, roped to the pain of the past? Yes, we are to look forward, but we cannot if our today is umbilically linked to our yesterday.

The nugget of this lame man’s story is that Jesus didn’t penalize the man for not answering His question. He didn’t indulge his excuses. He simply commanded him to stand up. At that point the man had a choice—to stay rooted to the portico or to attempt the impossible and stand. He knew in his mind that he could not do this, but there must have been within him a tiny kernel of faith in Jesus’ ability to do what He said He would do. So, where sinew once languished, and muscle atrophied, he dared to try. And in that trying, Jesus met him in his weakness and did for him what he was never able to do for himself. The man stood, then walked, then leaped. Then praised God.

THE HEART OF GOD IN OUR HEALING

The heart of God toward us mirrors this encounter. He asks us if we want to heal. We make excuses, or we’re too afraid to believe we can be any different than who we are right now. We’ve made lameness our comfort zone, our happy normal. Still, He pesters us to stand. In that hesitant moment, we have a choice: to exert a tiny bit of faith in His ability, or to shrink back to our safe normal.

Do you know God wants you to live unshackled, freed from your past? Do you realize His love for you is steady and relentless? I’m not saying He desires for you to be happy or rich or wealthy or famous. One look at Jesus and how He walked the earth shows us this is a dangerous expectation for a Christ follower to have. Who are we to think we’ll live any differently than Jesus who had no place to lay His head, who suffered hunger, whose fame waned and eventually contributed to His death? If we are His followers, we will follow in His steps, and that means we will suffer for His sake. But suffering for His sake is not the same thing as suffering from the wounds of our past.

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