"Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts."
Acts 3:2 NIV
This past Monday, Dr. Clarence Wright gave his final address as the president of Baptist Pastors and Ministers Conference of Philadelphia and Vicinity, his message entitled “Standing at the Gate” Acts 3:1-8, provoked my thoughts about this lame man at this gate. Two preachers were going to the temple at 3pm during the time of prayer and they encounter this lame man being carried to the temple gate. The man had been in this condition from birth and came here to beg daily for money. After asking Peter and John for money they tell him we’re broke but here’s what I have, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth walk. They lifted him by his hand and strength came to his ankles and feet, he began walking with them into the temple.
In thinking about this story, I rested on this idea of why they never carried this man beyond the gate. All these years this man has been coming to the same temple gate but never did anyone carry him beyond the gate nor do we hear him saying somebody take me past the gate. What does it feel like when people have gone as far as they can go with you? In my wrestling with this text, I believe that God wants the man to go beyond the gate, but it won’t be through the carrying of other individuals rather he will walk for himself. I suggest today that at some point for you to get to the next you cannot continue to rest upon the shoulders of people to carry you. Going beyond the gate means I must walk myself through, yes Peter and John may be with me but at least they don’t have to carry me. There is a level of fulfillment and excitement that comes with not being carried by other people. Whose carrying you to the gate but can’t take you beyond? It’s not their inability to carry you further but rather God’s denial of you relying on anyone else to do what you will be strengthened to accomplish for yourself. It’s a great time to Go Beyond the Gate!