“Do you want to get well?”
It really is an important question. Do you want to get well? Do you want your circumstances to change? Do you want to be different, or are you content in your brokenness? Your sickness? Your despair?
Too many of us are defined by what is “wrong” with us. We believe we can’t change, and our identity becomes wrapped up in our brokenness. We wear little, “Hi, My Name Is _______” badges around with our characteristics on them. “Hi, my name is…” Alcoholic. Porn Addict. Gossip. The Fat Kid. Abused. Neglected. Friendless. Worthless. We believe that we cannot change, that this is the way it will always be. Do we want to get well?
Jesus stands at the pool of Bethesda, looking out over the scene. One man had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. We know very little else about this man, except that he was waiting by the pool hoping to get well. He wasn’t seeking help. He wasn’t trying to sit any closer to the edge. He wasn’t making deals with others so he could be cleansed. No, he was just waiting. Until Jesus showed up. “Do you want to be well?”
The question is important, because it is possible that he doesn’t! He has been invalid for thirty-eight years. It defines him. He probably makes his living begging. This is who he is. Does he really want it to change? And we find that instead of shouting out, “Yes! I want to walk!” he instead answers with an excuse. “I have no one to help me into the pool…”
What excuses are we making? Do you believe you can’t change? Do you believe that you won’t ever be different? If so, you are saying that God is smaller than your alcoholism, than your porn addiction, than the abuses that have happened to you in the past. God doesn’t want our past to define us; he calls us to be more than our pasts. We can change because God allows us to change. “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me!” God wants to change us, he wants to redefine us, he wants to give us a new name. All we have to do is ask. “Yes, I want to get well.”
