Everything was against four friends who took their paraplegic friend to Jesus. Before wheelchairs or medical transport, there was just a mat. It took four mat-carrying friends to make this journey. It took mat-carrying faith.
Read Luke 5:17-20
Can you imagine taking your corner of someone’s mat and trying to find the right walking rhythm? Can you imagine keeping your footing over uneven cobbled stones or worse? Did people get out of the way like they will for wheelchairs today? Did their hands grow sweaty? Did they need to stop to get a better hold?
Then, when they arrived; there was no way into the house where Jesus was teaching. Bodies blocked the only entrance and they weren’t moving.
I am stunned by their ingenuity to take apart the roof and lower their helpless friend? Where did they get the rope? And what did their friend say about making a roof appearance? I know what I would have thought: “Don’t drop me!”
Jesus called it faith. Mat-carrying faith. Roof-removing faith.
Who Am I?
I am the one who doesn’t have that kind of faith too many times. I am the one fearing no-way, missing opportunity, losing hope.
Oh to have mat-carrying faith that goes the distance, sees need before obstacle, thinks roof entrance when a door is blocked. I want to be a mat-carrying prayer partner for friends who can’t get themselves to Jesus. I want to take my corner of someone’s life-limiting mat and introduce them the Life-enlarger.
I want to be a mat-carrier with a faith that does not dim when mat-carrying is hard or inconvenient. After all, Jesus carried my mat when I could not and calls me to do the same for others.
I would be a mat-carrier, but I need three more to help.
Are you available?