Our verse for today is John 5:8. Jesus said to him, “Get up. Stand up. Pick up your mat and walk.” I was asking the Lord about that. There are many lessons out there talking about pick up your mat, saying that this is your old way of life and you don’t want to return to it, so pick it up. But I was asking the Lord why he had to carry it. Why were you taking it with you, if this is your old way of life? Why are you taking it with you? Your old ways, your old habits. Why is he taking it with him? Why the command to walk?

In the story of the paralytic lowered down through the ceiling, He says, “Pick up your mat and go home.” I was praying about what the significance of that was and saw it as, yes, this was our old life and our old ways. The mat was a symbol of his weakness, and he was trapped in that weakness. He couldn’t get up. In either story, whichever one you want to look at, they couldn’t get up. They were trapped in that weakness. They were trapped on that mat. He tells him to take it with him. “Pick it up and take it with you.” I see that as feet fitted with the preparation of the gospel of peace. This is your testimony. He saves us out of our weaknesses. It is His strength in our weaknesses. It’s how He is shown strong. We want to show the world our weaknesses to show them Christ’s strength, Christ’s salvation, what so great a salvation we have!

For instance, the Lord saved me out of my weakness. My vice, that I had, was watching TV; especially movies, I loved movies. At the end of the day it was, “Now, I get to relax. Get some ice cream. Put my feet up and watch something.” I’m human, so I’m very good at justifying. And I had limits on how much, and when, and what I would watch, of course, and I’d watch with the kids. But eventually the Lord helped me (you can ask Him to help you, we have a Helper), to not enjoy it anymore, to not want to do it. He showed me things like crying at the end of a movie: caring about these fiction people and then not crying over these people in the real world. Things like that, till I wanted it out. And He took it out. He took out the desire. He works in us the willing and the doing. He changed my heart to not want it anymore.

The hardest thing to give up was after the little people were in bed, one of my teenagers and I would watch something together: historical movies, foreign language films; we’d find things to watch and watch a movie over a few nights. It was the time we spent together. I kept praying that He would replace it and give us something else to do together, and He never did. I finally had to just tell my son I couldn’t do it anymore. The Lord was taking this out of my life. And it still hasn’t been replaced, but he’s homeschooled so we still spend a lot of time together.

But that was the hardest part of it, that I had to make the choice. We still make the choice. It’s our choice. God doesn’t force Himself on us, but He does the work. He does the work, the willing and the doing. I don’t want it anymore. There’s never been any kind of backsliding because I don’t want it anymore. Things aren’t a temptation if you don’t want them. It’s easy not to give into any thoughts like that because your heart is really changed, because God really changes our hearts.

Salvation is real. It’s not us trying to do anything. It’s us choosing Him. Choosing to love Him. For the longest time, I would wonder if I was supposed to give it up. Well, if I really knew I had to…, but just right there showed my heart. It wasn’t enough that maybe He wanted me to, or maybe this would give me a better relationship with Him. It wasn’t enough. I wasn’t willing to just give it up, which showed my heart wasn’t loving the Lord my God with all my heart, and mind, and soul, and strength.

So I encourage you, whatever those things are—those weaknesses which we justify, we laugh off, we make jokes about them, we want other people to agree that it’s okay—it’s not glorifying God and it’s doing us no good. Pick up your mat and walk, and show the world what a great Savior we have.