Do You Really Want To Get Well?

Good morning!  I hope you had a great weekend.

John 5:6-8 (NASB)
6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, "Do you wish to get well ?" 7 The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me." 8 Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk."

This is one of my favorite accounts of healing recorded in scripture, because it reveals what is so often our condition.  Notice how this dialogue goes.  When Jesus asks the man if he wants to get well, the man answers with all of his reasons why he can't get well.   Even though the man wanted nothing more than to be healed, he had already become convinced of the impossibility of that healing ever taking place.

Jesus response is equally as insightful.  Jesus didn't take time to acknowledge or refute the reasons this man has given; however, Jesus does instruct him to pick up the symbols of the symbol of his helpless condition.  The pallet has no place in the life of a man who has been set free.

Today, Jesus is giving many of us the same line of questioning..."Do you wish to.....?"   He's not interested in our reasons for being in the condition that we are in.  Instead, He is interested in our desire to move beyond those conditions and circumstances.   That desire is the fuel for our faith and it is our faith that allows us to touch the life changing power of God.   Once we reach out to touch that power, the symbols of our helplessness no longer have a place in our life.   They represent a life that once was, but is no more.

If you find yourself in a helpless state today, it may be time to answer the question "do you wish to get well?"   God will give you all you need to rise above any circumstance, if you will only let Him.

Until next Monday, may God's richest blessings be yours this week.

Carl

www.simplicitynet.org
troubles.carlwillis.com