June 18, 2022 -- Acts 9:32-35 -- An Implication of Christ's Healing

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. 33 There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed. 34 And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose. 35 And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
Acts 9:32-35 ESV

Now that is a strange command “make your bed”. It is joyous to read of Aeneas’ healing. That makes sense. Sure, it also makes sense that he rise and get up out of his bed. But why is he commanded to make the bed? Answer: He doesn’t need it anymore. When he was bedridden for those eight years he could not rise from the bed, it was never made up because he was dependent on it. Now that he is healed, he can make the bed, symbolizing his healing and the fact he does not need that bed except at the appropriate time.

I wonder, when Jesus has healed you, how often you left your bed unmade, available ‘just in case’. Let me explain. You have prayed and prayed to be healed of gluttony, but you have chips in the house and your favourite brand of ice cream and that fresh batch of cookies. In the morning you are committed, praying for self-control. In the afternoon you eat a salad for lunch. At night you eat the ice cream with the fresh cookies and pat yourself on the back for not eating the chips…well, not all of them.

How many times have we said we will close the door on our sinful ways and left the bed unmade. Now, let me be clear, I am not saying Aeneas was bedridden because of a particular sin. But once he was healed, it would have been sinful for him to lounge in it. What area of your life are you praying for the healing of Jesus Christ and then not trusting in that healing, prepared to go back to the sin unless He deliberately runs interference for you and blocks your path. Remember this: Greater is He Who is in you, than he that is in the world. Close the door on that past sin, make that bed, and walk in the healing of the Lord. Fight the old temptations and wayward thoughts, trusting the LORD Jesus heals you.

Father in heaven, thank You for the rich healing You have poured on our lives in Jesus Christ--in Him You have set us free from sin in order that our lives may reflect Your glory. Thank You, God of Love and Victory, for the presence of Your Spirit, by Whom we rise from our bedridden state and leave old sinful ways behind us. Triune God, may the words of our mouth and the works of our hands bring You the glory and honour and praise so totally due You. Amen.

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