A man had been an invalid for 38 years. He’d not taken a step for nearly four decades. His life was painful, awful, and miserable. Then, one day, Jesus walked up to him and told him he was healed and that it was time to get up and move on with his life.
There are two curious principles we can learn from this encounter.
One, not everything has to take a long time. Admittedly, some things are a process as it can take time to heal either physically or emotionally. But, sometimes God accelerates a change process, and we experience deep change in a short time. We call this deliverance. For example, a man who was addicted to drugs and alcohol his entire life recently told me about being instantly delivered from an addiction with no withdrawal symptoms, ongoing cravings, or relapses.
Two, God can heal you, but you need to get up and move forward with your life. This man was healed, but he could have sat there on his mat for another 38 years. The same is true of you. God can heal you emotionally, or even physically, but at some point you need to get up and get going. This looks like walking away from the past and walking toward a new future without running back to your old lifestyle. This looks like no longer talking over and over about the pain of your past, but instead chasing the potential of your future.
How about you? What is the “mat” that you need to pick up? What place have you been sitting in that you need to get up and move on from?