GET UP AND WALK

Nikki Hixson

Galatians 5:13- “For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters.”

There are a lot of Christians living in bondage today; not living the free life that Jesus died to give them.  I believe this bondage looks different for each person.  Some are in a pit of depression and after a while, they’ve just gotten comfortable in that pit. Others are weighed down with insecurity in bondage because of things that have happened in their past.  Some people are enslaved to an addiction, while others are enslaved to man and the opinions of others.  It looks different for each of us, but the problem is the same. 

Read John 5:1-9

In the story in our key verse in John, Jesus asks the paralyzed man a very important question; He asked him, “Would you like to get well?” another translations says, “Do you want to get well?”  Now think about this question, this man has been paralyzed for thirty-eight years.  THIRTY-EIGHT. That’s longer than what a lot of you have been alive, times two, for some of you.  Of course the man wanted to get well.  So why would Jesus ask him that?  Kind of a ridiculous question, don’t you think?  I think Jesus asked him because what the man didn’t realize is that his deliverance required his involvement.  After Jesus asked him this question, the man responds in verse 7 with, “Sir, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred.  While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”  I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but I think we could look at this response and gather one thing from it- excuse.  He makes an excuse, doesn’t he?  It’s someone else’s fault.  Now I know none of us can relate to that right? Ha, I wish.  We do that all the time.  We blame someone else for the bondage that we are now walking in today.  It is always somebody else’s fault, isn’t it?  Based on Jesus’ response, I don’t think He would agree.  He responds to the paralyzed man with, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” The Bible goes on to say that in that very second, the man was healed; something that held him captive for thirty-eight years was cured in an instant.  His deliverance required his involvement.  And the same goes for you and me.

If you want to be free you have to be willing to move from where you are.  You have to be willing to make some changes.  You have to be willing to pick up your mat and walk.  When we stay in the bondage that has held us captive for so long, we are ultimately saying what Jesus did on the cross wasn’t enough.  It’s an insult to the cross. Don’t get comfortable in the pit.  Don’t become so well accustomed to the chains.  That is no longer your life when you are a child of God.  When Jesus died on cross, so did our addictions, so did our insecurities, so did our depression and fear of others.  And when you accept His free gift of salvation, freedom is now your song.  However, your deliverance requires your involvement. You can’t stay where you are, in the bondage that you’re in, and still go where Jesus is calling you.  The time has come… take off your chains.