Compass

John 5^:9-10 “Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!”

When the Bible says this miracle was done on the sabbath, you know that there is trouble coming. Telling the man that, “The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!” was a lie. It was actually a Pharisaic oral law, not the Mosaic Law. But for every Law, they had thirty-nine sub-laws. This was one of the thirty-nine sub-laws of the Sabbath. How can the Jewish leaders see a man that had been crippled for thirty-eight years, now on his feet walking and carrying the mat and all they could think about is the Law? Instead of dancing and jubilating; that is what religion does to people. Religion is a very bad thing; it has nothing to do with God. Jesus said to them, “go and find the meaning, I require mercy and not sacrifice” [Matt.9:13, Matt.12:7]. With the woman that was bent over, the Jewish leaders were watching Jesus to see if He would heal her on a sabbath. Jesus asked them, ‘this woman that is a daughter of Abraham should she not be healed even on a Sabbath? Then Jesus said, ‘Get up woman, stretch yourself’, and she was healed. Guess what? The Jewish leaders had an issue with it and Jesus asked, ‘How can you have an issue with it?’

Seeing people surrender their lives to Jesus and getting saved never ever gets old for me. But I have discovered it is not the same for ‘old-Christians’; their reaction to seeing people getting saved is, ‘Are they really sure about this their salvation decision.’ Or they make statements like, ‘Let us just give all the glory to God.’ – ‘old-Christian’. It sounds pious but is an old-Christian way of thinking. ‘Let us pray that their names will be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life’ – old-Christian. It is a useless prayer because the moment they said, ‘Jesus, here I am’, their names were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. You do not need prayers to write it there. That is why you must never be an old-Christian. The Bible says heaven rejoices over one person that comes to Christ. So how can your focus be if the person is really saved or not? How is that your business? Why can’t you just rejoice with heaven for once? Say, I must never be an old- Christian.

John 5:¹¹ “But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” Interestingly, Mr. Blamer blamed Jesus for his Pharisaic offence of carrying his mat. Please read John 5:15-16 & 18. Jesus showed up to this man and told him that now that he has been healed, he should sin no more. But all that was on his mind was to report Jesus to the Jewish leaders and blame Jesus for his ‘offence’. This is the same Jesus that ignored all his own blaming; blaming his family, his lovers, his enemies, and healed him. Now see how he repays Jesus by throwing him to the dogs. Now, Jesus, had people trying to kill him just because of this man. Sometimes you do good for someone and they repay you with evil. Do not worry they did the same thing to Jesus. You are going to triumph in Jesus Name. Why did he repay Jesus like that? The answer is, he had no interest in knowing Jesus. Focusing on the healing and not the healer leads to all sorts.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, please keep my heart fresh and zealous for God, in Jesus Name. Amen!