After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, Do you want to be healed? The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me. Jesus said to him, Get up, take up your bed, and walk. And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. (John 5:1-3, 5-9 ESV)
This is one of the many healing stories in the New Testament. Here Jesus heals an invalid. But that is not what strikes me about this story…
Jesus asks the man, “do you want to be healed?” what would you say to Jesus if He asked you if you wanted to be healed?
Many of us are content in our disease. And all of us have dis ease… But do we want to be healed of it? We are able to function and get attention because of it. We have learned to use our disease to our advantage. We are scared to be healed. We don’t k ow if we can make it with out our crutch.
So what would you say to Jesus, “Do you want to be healed?”
The man made excuses for why he wasn’t healed… He did not tell Jesus he wanted to be healed he gave Him the excuse for why he was not healed. The man learned to live in his disease and was scared to be out of it… And notice the man has no name because he is you, or you are him…
So do you want to be healed? Give up your disease and live in the life that God has prepared for you? Are you ready to trust God and Jesus and let go of what you have known and leap into the wonderful life that waits before your?
Give up your disease and trust Jesus!
aSacredRebel 