Today's Readings - 1 Kings 9-10, John 5:1–29, Psalm 66:1–8, Proverbs 13:17-18
Devotional
There is no such thing as a stupid question, right? That’s what our teachers used to tell us. I think I asked a few in my day, and some of my classmates came pretty close. But to encourage people to ask freely and boldly, teachers and leaders continue to tell us that all questions are worthy.
Jesus asked a question that would make us scratch our heads in John 5. In Jerusalem, Jesus was walking by the Pool of Bethesda where invalids lay seeking healing. They believed that the first person to get into the water after the waters were stirred would be healed. There was a man who had been an invalid for 38 years beside the pool and Jesus asked him a corker of a question in verse 6.
“Do you want to be healed?” (John 5:6)
Really? The man had been unable to lead a normal life or nearly 4 decades and was reduced to chasing a myth that the waters of Bethesda would bring healing. Unfortunately, he moved slowly and others always beat him into the water. So, day after day, year after year, he stayed there in his condition. “Do you want to be healed,” Jesus asked.
Maybe it isn’t such a stupid question after all. The human heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. It causes us to cling to the things that destroy our lives, to love our sins and to hold on to that which is destroying us. The person whose soul is slowly being eaten away by the acid of anger and bitterness would rather hold onto the grudge than to forgive. That cheating spouse seeing his family disintegrating but will not give up his (or her) illicit pleasures. No matter how many painful hangovers or other destructive consequences the drunk or drug addict experiences, he or she still resists the cure. And often it is much less dramatic than this. Dishonesty. Slothfulness. A failure to be faithful at work, at school. Oh, and there are the twin Goliaths for so many today. Materialism and Pornography. Many are derailed by one and many by the other. Some by both.
And Jesus comes to us and says, “I will not only forgive your sins and take you to heaven one day, but as you trust me and walk in obedience to me day by day, I will heal you, I will transform you, I will remake you.” But you must yield to that transforming power and seek him with all your heart. Jesus has the healing power and is willing to give it to you. But you must be willing to be healed.
Do you want to be healed?
Father, I want to be healed. I want to be healed of every sin, every habit, every personality quirk that is not pleasing to you. May I be a man like your Son – more and more every day!
Think and Pray
Are there areas of your life where you are holding on to sin that you know you need to let go of or refusing to obey God where he has made his will clear to you?
Will you today do a spiritual inventory and let Jesus Christ have full control of your life?
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