Pick up your bed and walk

Sometimes our problems last longer than a little while. It is in the struggle that we find the answer Jesus has. Instead of hanging out with people who are also in the same shape get to where help can be found. If we are to change start by changing who you hang out with. The sick man was hanging out with sick folks waiting on something that wouldn't help. Had he gotten in the water he wouldn't have gotten what he needed. Thank God he doesn't always give us what we want. He was looking for a temporary solution to the permanent problem. Jesus knew where to find him and what the permanent solution was he needed. Jesus asked his question to get the man's eyes off the pool and on the Lord. Why did Jesus tell him to take the bed also? Because it was a testimony that he had been healed, permanently, to others. A reminder to himself of what Jesus did for him. When the big head starts the smell from that bed he had laid on would bring him back to his senses. Remind him of the past that he had been saved from, the hell he had been bound for, and protection from the pride that can start to grow. The bed was a refreshment also to the saints. They could see where the man was and where he is now. And it was a revelation to sinners. Not leaving the bed behind was important. Had the bed been left they would have thought he was destroyed by the disease. The bed was a reminder of the struggle that led to the answer Jesus had.