In John 5:2-9, Jesus asks an invalid man a very interesting question.  This guy’s been laying around near a pool of water that supposedly could heal people when the water was stirred up, but would only heal the first person into the pool.

“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.”

Can you imagine asking someone that question?  This guy’s been hanging out outside in the hot sun for 38 years waiting to be healed, and Jesus asks him if he wants to be healed.  It’d be like talking to someone who’d been battling cancer for 10 years in chronic pain at a hospital, and saying “hey, you wanna get out of here?”.

No we know that Jesus was after more than just this man’s physical healing, there was a spiritual truth he wanted to portray.  We all have a sickness called sin, that separates us from God, that we need to be healed from.  The question we have to ask ourselves daily is “Do we want to be healed?”  Of course!  We might rush to say, but let’s stop and look at our lives, before we rush to answer.  How does your life manifest your desire to be healed?  How are we making war on sin by passionately pursuing Jesus?  Have you ever asked yourself how much God hates sin, or why there is so much violent imagery tied to the fight against sin in the Bible?

Matthew 18:8-9 –“And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.”

Romans 8:12-13 – “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

Jesus wants us to be well, and He is not suggesting we butcher our bodies, only giving us a picture of what it means to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.  He is eager to unleash all His power by the Spirit to overwhelmingly conquer sin in your life, yet we can still impede His work by clinging on to sin.  Again, the question is – “Do you want to be healed?”  Sometimes, when I stop to really take a look at my own life, I’ve deceived myself, and truthfully my actions have not matched up to my words.  If that’s where you are, know that that’s ok, God wanted to use today to awaken you to a new vigor in your fight for faith.

The freedom Jesus brings us is not merely an end to sin, it is much greater.  It is a replacement of the lies and pain that sin brings with truth and joy in enjoying God.  So our battle to be healed rests not in trying to “stop sinning” as much as it does delighting in God, and pursuing more delight in Him.  God may have different ways for each of us to battle sin, and different ways that stir your heart’s affections for him, but stay encouraged – God is with you and for you.

Psalm 37:4 encourages us – “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Until we all attain the fullness of joy found in Christ alone; may His grace and mercy pour out exceedingly abundantly to us all, and we continue encourage one another daily in our struggle.

Grace and Peace,
Adam