Do You Want to be Healed?

A paralyzed man in John five had been disabled for almost 40 years of his life. Jesus meets this man by a pool on the Sabbath (Saturday, when nobody could legally work). Obviously, He had the power to heal the man regardless of the mans disease, faith, intellect, or location. However, before Jesus does anything, He asked the man one question. He said, “Do you want to be healed?”

Why would Jesus ask this question? Of course he wanted to be healed! I believe he asked the question because he knew that sometimes humans are content in their misery. They don’t want to grow. They would rather be complacent than well and whole. A marriage can’t be saved unless there is a will. A drug addict can’t be liberated from his addiction unless there is a will. A young person can’t gain wisdom unless there is a will. An elderly individual can’t be humble in their own knowledge unless there is a will. Unless one has the desire to grow, heal, and learn, he will not.

Now apply this to the church and your own relationship to the family of God. Are you so “progressive” that you neglect the feelings of others? Or, on the opposite end, are you so “bigoted” and traditional that you don’t allow others to own their personal convictions? Do you have a mindset that puts up a wall so that you can’t learn? Or maybe you are learning so much, but are never applying these things in love? I know these things, and many others, describe me at times. I must ask myself, do I really want to be healed? Do I want to grow? Jesus still continues to ask that question today. And he is still the great physician.

I believe if each person in the church asked themselves the same question, on both an individual and a congregational level, that we would grow both in Spirit and in number. Jesus wants to help, and he can do amazing things through your church family, but He is asking, “do you want to be healed?” – Jesse