In John 5:6, Jesus meets a man who cannot walk, and hasn’t been able to for a long time. A bunch of sick and lame people hung out by this special pool that when it was stirred up, people would rush to get in. They believed that whoever got there first would be healed. I would imagine this would be very difficult for a man who couldn’t walk. This would explain why he’s been struggling for what the Bible tells us is 38-years. Dang, that sounds hopeless...

Then, the Bible tells us this: “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?’“

On the surface, this might seem like a dumb question - but it’s not. It’s a question that we might need to ask ourselves. This man struggled with a horrible malady for 38-years, and even though he’s never been able to make it into the pool before everyone else, he’s still sitting there. Doing the same old thing. Trying over and over again to do something that hasn’t worked for him.

Suddenly, this might seem like something that resonates with you - even if you’ve always been able to walk. How often do we do the same old thing, over and over again, and expect a different result this time? To me it now sounds reasonable to walk up to a man who has failed for up to 38-years straight and wonder, “Do you actually want something different?”

Sometimes we simply don’t. We like our sin too much. I hear people make statements like, “Why do I keep mistreating my wife and kids? Why can’t I stop drinking or smoking? Why can’t I change my horrible habits? Why can’t I forgive that person?” The answer is simple: you don’t really want to. Those things provide you with something you can’t let go of for the sake of something better. It’s so easy to get used to misery and bitterness, and change is so hard.

So Jesus may be asking you during this season of repentance and fasting: do you want to be made well? If you do, Jesus is there to walk with you through it, but He isn’t going to force you. No matter how He presses and encourages, you can always choose to sit there by the water and watch everyone else moving forward. Or you can take Jesus’ hand and let Him lead you to something better.

In Christ,

PD