The Word This Week
John 5:1…
One of the famous questions Jesus asked is: “Do you want to be made well?”
You might automatically think, “Of course I want to be made well!”
But still Jesus asks, desiring you to consider the implications of wellness, especially if you’ve been in this condition for 38 years. It explains why Jesus asked the paralytic laying near the pool of Bethesda to consider his options…
Indeed, many people who’ve been dealing with affliction for as many years as this man has are sort of comfortable in their situation because by now they have all the inherent problems of their affliction worked out. They’ve learned to deal with it.
Perhaps such a dramatic and sudden life change would bring a whole new set of challenges you’ve never considered before. Before just automatically assuming everything would be easier, perhaps you should consider some of the possible difficulties being healed may present.
Of course, when we think about the paralytic laying by the pool of Bethesda, unable to walk, we can also remember the ‘paralysis’ we were living with prior to our own personal encounter with Christ.
Was it the consideration of the difficulties we would face as a ‘born again’ Christian that caused us to delay the decision to place our faith in Christ as long as we did? We think: we may lose friends, family members, fellow workers, and schoolmates; we may lose our jobs for refusing to manipulate business deals, or understand we have to separate from our romantic partner because we have involved ourselves in an adulterous situation. And on and on it goes…
All those factors are - or should be - in the minds of those who are allowing Jesus to ‘heal’ them. For at least a brief period of time, your life may become precipitously worse, as your deal with the ramifications of living a life for Christ and no longer for yourself. Being ‘healed’ by Jesus isn’t just ‘fire insurance,’ it is being thrown into the ‘fire’ of spiritual warfare.
Desiring to be ‘healed’ is never as automatic an answer as we may think it to be. We no longer get to languish in our afflictions – but now must ‘walk’ boldly with Christ.
Pastor Bill
One of the famous questions Jesus asked is: “Do you want to be made well?”
You might automatically think, “Of course I want to be made well!”
But still Jesus asks, desiring you to consider the implications of wellness, especially if you’ve been in this condition for 38 years. It explains why Jesus asked the paralytic laying near the pool of Bethesda to consider his options…
Indeed, many people who’ve been dealing with affliction for as many years as this man has are sort of comfortable in their situation because by now they have all the inherent problems of their affliction worked out. They’ve learned to deal with it.
Perhaps such a dramatic and sudden life change would bring a whole new set of challenges you’ve never considered before. Before just automatically assuming everything would be easier, perhaps you should consider some of the possible difficulties being healed may present.
Of course, when we think about the paralytic laying by the pool of Bethesda, unable to walk, we can also remember the ‘paralysis’ we were living with prior to our own personal encounter with Christ.
Was it the consideration of the difficulties we would face as a ‘born again’ Christian that caused us to delay the decision to place our faith in Christ as long as we did? We think: we may lose friends, family members, fellow workers, and schoolmates; we may lose our jobs for refusing to manipulate business deals, or understand we have to separate from our romantic partner because we have involved ourselves in an adulterous situation. And on and on it goes…
All those factors are - or should be - in the minds of those who are allowing Jesus to ‘heal’ them. For at least a brief period of time, your life may become precipitously worse, as your deal with the ramifications of living a life for Christ and no longer for yourself. Being ‘healed’ by Jesus isn’t just ‘fire insurance,’ it is being thrown into the ‘fire’ of spiritual warfare.
Desiring to be ‘healed’ is never as automatic an answer as we may think it to be. We no longer get to languish in our afflictions – but now must ‘walk’ boldly with Christ.
Pastor Bill