Let Others Carry You To Jesus (Part II)

By Odon Bulamba (10 May 2002)

Luke 5:25. Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God.

What does it mean to be paralysed? Would you like to be paralysed? I don’t think so, if God said to you, “if you sacrificed one of your eyes your friend will be healed”, would you accept? Why do you need two eyes? That is why we must not be paralysed as Christians.

When God touched Jacob’s hip it meant that if something is broken in our spiritual lives many people will suffer, because some versions of the Bible say that you couldn’t eat the meat of an animal if its hip was broken. If we are broken or paralysed we can put people off. The very first thing that paralyses Christians is laziness, if you see that laziness is a problem in your Christian life don’t hesitate to ask others to pray for you because laziness prevents you from reading the Bible and praying.

When a turtle sees a long distance ahead of him they just stop and wait for the wind to speed them up, but the wind will never help them. Some Christians are like turtles, they decide to pray and read the Bible but when they get the opportunity they just sit there waiting for someone to help them along. The Bible says that the one who doesn’t work will not eat, so if you don’t use what you have in you God will not accept you to eat His food, and this is how people have ears but don’t listen and they have eyes but they don’t see.

Once Oscar told us that we take in a lot but one day we will explode, why? We must give back what we have received; if you eat too much you will become over weight and could explode.

When I was a child I ate a lot of rice, to the point I became sick. I realised that eating too much can make you sick and tired, and if you eat a lot without exercising you will feel uncomfortable. There are different types of food we can eat but when you mix certain foods your stomach can detect that something is wrong. You might have diarrhoea, you might vomit or you may have stink breath, but one thing is that you will feel uncomfortable. When we give our stomach food we must wait for it to digest before sending more food down.

So when you learn something from the Word of God you have to put this Word into practice before eating something else. Some Christians go home after church and check to see if the preaching was according to God’s Word, and this means they check the quality of food before digesting it. So how many times do you check your food? This makes Christians spiritually paralysed. Do you know what happens to a monkey’s hands when it is dead? They close their fist and it is hard to open it, so what is the meaning of a man with a closed fist? If you walk down town with closed fists, what do you think others would do? They will keep their distance because they will probably think you want a fight.

As Christians we must have this principle, when Satan sees that we are ready to fight he might keep his distance from us but if we don’t show that we are ready to fight, Satan will come closer to us.

When a monkey is dead it always has a smile, and when we have physical problems as Christians our joy must always be visible to other people. If you have a problem with someone, make sure that those around don’t see your problem because when you become angry and others will lose their peace.

So why can’t you control your anger? Can’t you see that your anger has paralysed you? Can’t you see that your lie has paralysed you? If you cannot find someone to carry you what will happen to you? How will you go to Jesus with your anger? The Bible says that our sins separate us from God.

In Congo farmers would kill all the monkeys because they destroyed their crops, but there was one big monkey who was clever and fled. The big monkey came to a river and knew that he couldn’t swim, so he thought about asking a crocodile for a ride. The crocodile said that the monkey wasn’t his friend so they argued about it for a while. The crocodile’s wife became sick and according to sorcerers his wife needed a monkey’s heart to heal her, so the crocodile had the perfect the plan.

The monkey climbed on his back and the crocodile started to swim. Then the crocodile asked the monkey if he knew where he was going and the monkey said, “yes, we are going to the other side”, but crocodile said, “no monkey you are mistaken, my wife is sick and your heart will heal her”. The monkey thought about death so he said to crocodile, “my friend why didn’t you tell me before we left because my heart is on top of the tree, and if you would have told me I could have brought it with me”.

The crocodile agreed to take him back and when the monkey reach the bank it jumped off and told the crocodile he was an idiot, “how can you believe crocodile that I could walk without my heart?” This is what we do as Christians today; some people are like monkeys and destroy what has been sown in other people’s lives, and when God finds a way to correct them they find a way to flee. When some people hear about God’s power or blessing they receive it with open arms, but when they hear about sin they think it is for others. When the monkeys paralysed the farmed crops they didn’t think about the consequences, so how many times do we paralyse God’s work in others?

How many times do we realise that what we are doing is death? Some Christians are like crocodiles; they can live in both water and on land. When a crocodile wants to kill its strength comes from his tail, and many Christians want to live this way. You can see their face when you talk to them but they use their tail to whip you. When you are speaking with Sylvie for example and then you tell Michelle everything you have discussed, you risk informing Michelle in a wrong way and that is why many Christians live like crocodiles.

Matthew 23:15. Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You travel over land and seas to will a single covert but when he becomes one you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are!

This is for us today, how many people have we disappointed in our lives? How many times have we shared the Word of God but disappointed others by our behaviour? Sometimes we are like crocodiles, we use people for the wrong reasons and one day someone might call us stupid. We must be careful not to paralyse others, and if we are paralysed we must humiliate ourselves and ask others to help us, and then we will praise the Lord as we walk towards heaven like the paralysed man did when he found healing. Let’s be ready to help others with all our strength, thoughts and mind.

Many people organise their lives to make money and many people see advisors for their problems, but they have no time to ask God for advice or make plans for their spiritual life. God said that we must have treasure in heaven, so what is your treasure? Your treasure is your soul and it has greater value then this world.

Pray now according to what you have learnt.