John 5:6 – Jesus saw him lying there, and He knew that the man had been sick for such a long time; so He asked him, “Do you want to get well?
In John 5, Jesus encountered a crippled man who had not walked in 38 years. Every day, his friends carried him to the Pool of Bethesda in hopes of being healed—they believed an angel of the Lord periodically stirred the waters in the pool, and if you got in first, you were healed.
Jesus asked this desperate, pitiful man, “Do you want to get well?” It seems like a strange question, perhaps even cruel. Of course he wanted to get well, why else would he be coming to the pool each day?
In this crippled man’s case, his excuse was that no one would help him get into the water first. It was someone else’s fault. So, he just laid there in his sickness day after day, month after month, year after year, decade after decade. “Hey Mister, do you want to get well, or do you want to keep wallowing in your misery and misfortune?”
The truth is that many people in our world today are just like the crippled man in John 5. They have a glaring problem, but they are not doing anything constructive to address it. They blame others. They play the pity card. They keep doing what they are doing even though it is not making one bit of difference. The question still stands today, “Do you want to get well?”
So, what does it take to get well?
1. Honesty: You and I will never see God work in our hearts unless we get honest with Him about our situation and circumstances. If you want to fix it, you must face it, and face it honestly.
2. Humility: God hates pride. If you are going to continue to walk in pride, He is not going to be free to help you. If takes humility to experience His help.
3. Help: Deep problems require outside assistance. A godly, wise, loving and objective friend or counselor is often needed to help us through the mental, emotional, marital, spiritual, or relational difficulties of life. Help comes from the Lord as we trust Him, but He uses people to assist us in experiencing His help.
Listen, we all need Jesus and we need one another to keep us going and growing in the Lord. So do you want to get well, or do you want to keep wallowing?
PRAYER:
Lord thank You for You’re my ever present help and You’re all knowing. Father help me to honestly admit my situation, to walk in humility and bless me with helpful friends so I can keep growing from wellness to wellness and from glory to glory. In Jesus’s Name, Amen.
inspired Grisele 