Wanting to get well, or?

The following is encouragement for you as if Jesus Christ Himself was speaking.  These are meant to give you insight into His Heart, how He thinks, and how He feels about you.  Let this encouragement begin to dwell deep within you!

 
Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.  Here a great number of disabled people used to lay - the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.  One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred.  When I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up!  Pick up your mat and walk.”  At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”  But the man replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”  The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again.  Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”

JOHN 5:2-14 (NIV)


I am really excited to share this story with you, so that you get to know me better.  It will give you an inside look into my heart and my view toward you in particular.

The first question you should ask yourself is … why would I be hanging around a pool that was surrounded by society’s rejects?  The sick, lame, blind; just the smell and noise would scare off most people.  But I am not like most people; I had healing and making someone whole on my mind.  There was no other place I wanted to be.

Next, far too many times today people hear a list of “do’s” and “don’ts” that supposedly must be taken care of before God would stoop to listen.  And if the do’s and don’ts are not perfect, God passes by.  If nothing else, learn from this story how misguided that concept is.  Yes, so many times I asked someone who needed healing about their level of faith in me; yes, I healed so many people by stating that their faith made them well.  Yes, faith moves me.  And I love to encourage people to grow and expand their faith.  But this was a different situation.

This man had no faith, no trust, nothing going for him.  When I asked him one of the most important questions he would ever hear, “Do you want to get well?”, he replied negatively.  He didn’t even ask to be healed.  Rather, he made it clear why he could never be healed!  He was stuck to living out his years as he had lived the last thirty-eight years: hopeless, faithless, futureless, bitter, lonely, negative, dry, a shell of a man. 

I just could not let him stay in darkness.  Faith or no faith, he deserved my compassion and care, and when I told him to walk, notice the exclamation point in my statement to him.  In other words, I meant it!  My care for him was stronger than his pessimism.

Speaking of compassion, I was heartbroken to hear the religious leaders devoid of any compassion or even excitement at this man’s healing.  After thirty-eight years he was now walking, hopefully carrying his mat to the garbage dump, and the leaders were more concerned about which day of the week it was!  That kind of coldness and rigidity is far more a hurdle to healing than that man’s lack of faith and hope.

Finally, when I later found him, notice that my call to him to stop sinning was far more important to me than his physical condition.  His physical condition would change many times in his earthly life; his sinning would have an effect not only now, but also to others around him, and for eternity as well. 

You don’t have to be perfect for me to come and be with you.  You don’t necessarily need the kind of faith that moves mountains for me to begin your healing.  My compassion on you is far stronger than your fears, weaknesses and doubts.  As a matter of fact, there’s no one else near your own pool now, and I’m passing by right now.  Would you like to pick up your mat and walk freely?

I really like you, and I really love you!


PAUSE:   Quiet yourself in His love and invite Him to be with you. 


REFLECT:

What a strong example of faith vs feelings!  When this man thought of his future, what did his feelings tell him?  How much stronger were his feelings than his faith?  Had he made his feelings a permanent part of his thinking, and did they squeeze out any room for faith?

Rewrite … Why did Jesus consider his sinning far more important than the condition of his physical body?  What belief had to be rewritten?

Revive … Do you think Jesus might pass by your particular pool?  Can you see Him coming?

Redeem … When he asks you if you want healing, how might you respond?  Consider your own battle between feelings and faith.


RECEIVE:   Left to myself, I am lost.  When I accept His insight for my life, however, I am found.  His insight for me includes rewriting who I really am!  Can you agree with His insight?


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