I loved my years in Campus and I sometimes sit and reminisce
over those days… Most of all because I had the freedom to make my own choices,
I’d create as much free time as I could and I’d make use of every free time
that came my way.
It was almost as if I was detached from the rest of the
world and I lived in a bit of oblivion in regards to my future, my past and
really about my own needs. Whenever I ran out of money, I only needed to talk
to my folks and they’d send me whatever I needed.
I’m sure I was not the only one that lived this way. I saw
the way my friends lived… at times a little more extravagant than I lived, but
in somewhat the same mindset as mine… Enjoy Life!!! You only live once, right??
I heard many of them confess that they would not change
their lifestyles for anything… And I guess hearing such statements and seeing
them live exactly that way is what drove me to write You Only Live Once.
The truth is, so many of us young people are so willing to
make the decision of living in sin and finding comfort in our sinful ways.
“Health and wholeness bring responsibility and effort that some who are physically, emotionally or spiritually exhausted may choose to avoid.”
More than once, I have heard people say that life in Christ
is too much for them… Or get to hear some people who say that dating a
Christian is boring. From what I get… Being a Christian is high maintenance. It
goes beyond just the decision to get saved and moves on to upholding the faith…
and it hits that that is just too hard to do; so let’s just live in sin!
If Christ came to you today and asked you a simple question…
“Do
you want to get well?” What would your answer be???
There was this guy who had lived for 38 years in paralysis
(John 5:1-9) who was asked the very same question by Christ… and he simply
blabbered when asked that question. After 38 years in sickness, he was no
longer sure he wanted health.
Are you so lost in your sin that you no longer know if you
want salvation??? Are you like this man who had grown so accustomed to his
inabilities that they started to seem normal to him?? Does it seem like your
sinful ways are quite fine and you can continue living in sin??
In as much as this man was not sure he needed healing,
Christ was sure that he needed to heal him. Just like for this man, Christ also
knows you need salvation, Christ knows that your decision to enjoy the
pleasures of your youth and live in sin needs to change and He is ready and
waiting for you to come to him and experience a new life.
“… Get up, pick your mat and walk” John 5:8
Jesus gave him this very simple instruction and that was the
changing point in his life. And it is as simple as that for us as well…
1. Get up
This is simply a call to obey… to leave our sinful ways and
make a deliberate decision to follow Him.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” Romans 6:23
2. Pick up your mat
This man had always had to depend on other people to help
him… But he now had God on his side.
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”…” 2 Corinthians 12:9
Salvation calls for us to depend on God’s strength to
sustain our survival. The more you rely on your own strength (or lack of it),
the more you end up getting away from Christ.
3. Walk
This was a call to get away from the life he lived and seek
a new life in salvation.
“Flee from evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace along with those who call on the name of the Lord out of a pure heart.” 2 Timothy 2:22
If we continue to surround ourselves in sinful ways, we’ll
end up slipping back there… so we simply need to move away from sin and pursue
righteousness.
Are you like this man who was so lost in his sickness that
he began to see it as if life in sin and weakness is just fine??
It is not just fine to live in sin… It is not just fine to
keep getting further and further away from God. Today God is calling you to
make a simple decision to “Get up, pick up your mat and walk.”
