What's Your Excuse?

Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “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 else 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! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath. 
~John 5:2-7

Excuses!  Boy aren't we good about finding excuses.  Why? Because if we can get people to accept our excuses then we don't think we have to take any personal responsibility....after all, it's not MY fault!

Here we see Jesus in Jerusalem walking by one of the public pools.  Tradition stated that when an angel moved the water, the first person into the pool would be healed.  Jesus saw a man laying on a mat by the pool and asks him if he would like to get well.  The man thought Jesus was just passing the time of day in small talk so he explains that while he would like to be healed, there's a reason why he can't.  Some would wonder, if the man could get to the edge of the pool with no apparent help, why couldn't he roll into the pool on his own.  Such answers we are not given.

You see, the man gave Jesus a plausible excuse why he couldn't get into the pool.  Jesus, on the other hand, saw the man's potential and healed him.  While we celebrate the face that Jesus healed this man, we don't notice the truth of what Jesus did for this man.  In reality, Jesus took away the man's excuses!  When Jesus healed this man, He took away all the excuses why the man couldn't become self-supporting; Jesus took away all excuses why the man needed someone to do everything for him; Jesus took away all the excuses why the man should be pitied.  Jesus takes away our excuses all the time!

Jesus takes away our excuses!  "I'm too tired to make it to church this week" - Go to bed earlier instead of partying all night.  "I don't have enough money in my month" - Get rid of the expenses that aren't vital to survival.  "I hate my job" - Change your attitude or change your job. 

I'll admit, I much prefer to exercise my mind over my body.  My body is built for comfort.  My doctor told me I must walk (quick march) no less than 45 minutes each day.  I gave him all the excuses I could think of why I "couldn't" and the response I got was "You got legs that work?  You can walk!"

Jesus teaches us every single day and in teaching us, He takes away our excuses.  When you stand before God to give account for your life, what excuses will you offer?