Go an extra Mile!

¹⁷One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. ¹⁸Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. ¹⁹When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. ²⁰When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” Luke 5:17-10

How many times have you done something and you meet a stumbling block that hinders your progress? I know many of us have been there many times. That does not mean that that’s the end of the stumbling blocks that we will meet on the way; neither does it mean it’s the end of the road – this simply means that we are getting an opportunity to rise higher than we have been operating and go to a higher level of operation. In a nutshell, we should use the obstacles that we meet on the way as stepping stones to where we are headed and aiming to reach. The problem with most of us is that when we reach such points rather that seeing a way out, we give up and quit and start complaining. This is not supposed to be; we are supposed to see beyond the stumbling block that we are facing.

                When the children of Israel were delivered from Egypt, they were so happy and joyful till the minute they reached the red sea. In Exodus 14:11-12, the Israelites started complaining to Moses and said “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” How many times have we behaved like the Israelites? Our work is just complaining and complaining instead of looking back and seeing where God has taken us from. This is what the Israelites failed to see and thus started to complain. The minute you fail to realize where God has taken you are from and be grateful, you start complaining. Can we learn to stop complaining? Complaining hinders us from getting our blessing and advancing as well. See that whenever the children of Israel complained, calamity befell them and they couldn’t advance but stay in the camp where they were till they changed their mind and stopped complaining.

                The people in the passage above would have a valid reason to complain and go back home with the paralytic but I love the way they acted. Look at the action that they took; they decided that since the door was not accessible, we can try from the roof. To me this was a brilliant step of faith that they also took. As I had said at first, when we meet stumbling blocks or hindrances, they are just posing there for us to use them as stepping stones to the next level. But how many of us have given up many times just because we met a stumbling block on our way? When you meet a stumbling block, do you stop there and start murmuring like the children of Israel at the red sea or you try to work out a way round the block just as these men did? It’s your choice.

                Some of us, our physical appearance, complexion, height name them; they have deterred us from accomplishing the purpose that God has called us to accomplish. Take a look at Zaccheus in Luke 19:1-9; He was a short man and he had a desire to see Jesus but because of his height, he could not see him because of the crowd that was there. After he tried to squeeze himself and see Jesus, he decided to climb a tree so that he could see Jesus. You will realize that Jesus came straight to the tree where he was and he went to dine with him. Zaccheus did not allow his height to be a stumbling block to him, rather, he worked around that and he got to see Jesus. Do not allow your inability to close a chance for you to get your blessing. Blind Bartimaeus was being shouted at by people so that he could stop calling out to Jesus, but the more they stopped him, the more he shouted. He got his inspiration from them and he finally got his healing.

                In Luke 4:43-48, we see a woman with the issue of blood. She had the problem for twelve good years and no one could heal her. As per the customs of Israel drawn from the Law of Moses, she was regarded as an outcast of the community. She heard about Jesus and she was determined to meet him because she knew that her healing time had come. Her being an outcast of the community did not hinder her from pursuing through the crowds so as to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, she pressed on. For some of us, it is not our physical conditions that have hindered us but our status quo as per say. Our family backgrounds, education, positions we have in our offices as well as our self esteem weighs us down. I believe this woman had lost it all. She was the laughing stock of her village; she was an outcast, had spent all her wealth and possession looking for cure but she couldn’t; I believe even health wise, she had become lean and weak because she was losing/had lost so much blood for 12 years yet, she choose to press on and get her healing. Are you ready to give up yet?

                In 2 Kings 7:3-7, we see the four lepers. They realized that if they continued to stay at the entrance of the gate, they would die there of hunger and leprosy. What did they do, they arose and started walking towards the camp of the Arameans. They said, either way, if we go to the city, we will die coz of hunger; if they stayed where they were, they would have died of leprosy as they were cast out and thus, they decided to go to the camp of the Arameans. If they spared them, then they live, if they killed them then they die. Some of us, we are confined where we are by a few situations, habits and practices that have rendered us vulnerable to either side that we turn. Some things we have allowed ourselves to enter into them knowingly or unknowingly and it has become so hard for us to leave them. It will require you to take a step of faith and go an extra mile to denounce the same and get your deliverance.

                Like the men carrying the paralytic; blind Bartimaeus; the lady with the issue of blood; the four lepers and Zaccheus, we have the capacity to beat whatever limitation that have or think we have. Nicodemus was a Pharisee who believed in Jesus. Being a Pharisee was a hindrance to him since he couldn’t publicly acknowledge that Jesus was the messiah; instead, he had to come to Jesus at night and speak to him. He realized that if he did so during the day, he could be in trouble with his fellow Pharisees but he got over that and took the initiative, went an extra mile and went to see Jesus. I do believe that there is no obstacle that is permanent; it is us who make them permanent. You can rise above your limitation and achieve what you have always wanted to. If the men in the bible did overcome their inabilities and obstacles with the help of God, then, you too can. Rise above your limitation; go the extra mile and leave a mark to be reckoned.

Amen!!