One day Jesus was teaching,
and Pharisees and teachers of the law
were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him
before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said,
“Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
Luke 5:17-20 New International Version (NIV)
Pharisee- a member of an ancient Jewish sect, distinguished by strict observance of the traditional and written law, and commonly held to have pretensions to superior sanctity
When Jesus saw their faith, he said,
“Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable
things today.”
Luke 5:20-26 (NIV)
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up!
Pick up your mat and walk.”
At once the man was cured;
he picked up
his mat and walked.
John 5:8-9a (NIV)
When we were rolling up our mat, we began to have hopes and dreams of doing big things for God. We may have looked around at others who seemed to be thriving in those same callings and wondered how they managed to walk so freely in all that God has for them. We begin to burn with a passion to follow Him and run the race that He calls us to run. The desire to do His will – to embrace His gifts and callings –
consumes us. Everything within us wants to run towards our Father as He says “come, follow me,” so we get up and run. Sometimes we trip. And then we remember our mat. We remember what
put us there.
We become overwhelmed at the challenges ahead, stop walking, unroll our mat,
and lie back down. When God calls us into something, He always calls us into something much bigger than ourselves, and far beyond our ability to comprehend… We may even cry out to God and beg Him to take our calling away, because it seems impossible that we could ever fulfill it. Yet, Romans 11:29 tells us that “God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable”. Our loving Father comes once again and asks us to pick up our mat and walk. This time we better understand what He is asking. We better understand the challenges that lie ahead, and weigh the blessings with the costs.
-Dan Hitz, Pick Up Your Mat and Walk
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, [they are] a new creation. The old has passed away; behold,
the new has come.
2 Corinthians 5:17 English Standard Version (ESV)