151 of 365 - Look to Jesus

Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your mat, and walk.” John 5:8
 
Still on the mat, you shift your eyes from the “magic” pool – the thing you thought would heal you, but only left you in the same miserable place -- to the eyes of Jesus.
 
And at once you know you are healed.

Louie Giglio says, “Every day we hold on to something with a clenched fist is a day we miss the possibility of God putting something amazing in our hands. When we let go, we don’t lose out.”
 
What keeps us stuck on our metaphorical mat? Things that keep us hanging out in circles that bring us down instead of lift us up. Things that make us feel unsatisfied, rather than grateful. Things that make us hate things about ourselves instead of realizing God can’t wait to use them for a purpose designed for us. Things that make us keep going back to what we know we shouldn’t do…what we know doesn’t work.
 
What are we looking to as the “magic” pool…the “if only” and “what if” we think is the answer? What if we slowly unclenched our cramped hands from around the edges of the mat and looked instead to Jesus?

And when we turn to Jesus, then we get the power we need to get off our mat. We can do the impossible. We can walk in freedom and healing. We can be who God created us to be.
 
Then we pick our mat up and carry it instead of letting it carry us. We carry it not to shame us, but to remind us from where we have come. And in the same power that got us up off the mat, we never lay back down on that dirty, smelly, wretched, battered mat. God, let it be so.
 
Challenge: Where are you currently feeling dissatisfied with yourself or your circumstances? Think of what you have been trying to do about these things in your own power. Now decide to look to Jesus. Talk to Him about how to help you see the circumstances and solutions through His eyes.