Excuses, Excuses

Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time…”Would you like to get well?” “I can’t, sir” the sick man said, for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone always gets there ahead of me.” Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! John 5:6-9

How many times do you find yourself making excuses to God?

In John 5, Jesus encounters a man beside the pool of Bethesda near the Sheep Gate. the pool was trapezoidal and as huge as a football field. Beneath the pool there were underground springs that bubbled up and disturbed the surface of the water from time to time. Many believed the disturbances were caused by an angel, thus giving the pool curative powers, and that the first person who got into the pool after the water moved would be healed from any illness that afflicted them.

The man Jesus approached had been an invalid for 38 years. One solitary human being in the midst of this vast throng of people and Jesus saw him? The man had given in to his illness and become a prisoner of his own despair.

Jesus asked, “Do you want to get well?” The answer seems pretty obvious, except that Jesus saw a person who was full of excuses and defenses nurtured over 38 years. The man had given up and given in. He gave the excuse that he had no one to help him.

There he was, confronted with the Healer of healers, and instead of recognizing that renewing power in from, he groaned, “It’s not my fault that I’m still this way, my friends have let me down.” Instead of saying yes when Christ asked him to make a choice, he threw out more excuses.

I wonder if those words have ever been our words.

Don’t let it be the case again. No excuses, no explanations. The Healer or healers is right there to help make you whole. Take Him up on the offer!

Decide today that the next time and excuse starts to come out of your mouth, you will confess it to God and ask for his forgiveness. Try to live excuse-free before God and your family.