Do You Want to Get Well?

John 5:1-6

Hot Springs, Arkansas - for many years the destination of those seeking the curative powers of the mineral rich, thermal springs found there. In today's Scripture we see a pool in Jerusalem that was credited with healing powers. As the infirm have flocked to Hot Springs, in Jesus' day this pool in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate was filled with disabled people waiting for an opportunity to be healed by the water.

Out of a great number laying in the area Jesus notices one in particular. He makes inquiries about this one, and finds he's been disabled for 38 years. He walks up and asks the invalid, "Do you want to get well?"

The lame, blind and paralyzed are lying all around him. He's been here waiting in the only place he knows to offer healing for someone in his condition. Over time he may have witnessed one or another taken to the water, their life changed when a healing occurred. It's a place of hope for him, but after 38 years, he's most likely come to the conclusion that healing will never come about. Then a stranger walks up and asks, "Do you want to get well?"

For many years I attended church. I was in the right place to hear about the healing power Christ possesses, a place of hope for the spiritual invalid. One Sunday morning as I sat in the pew, people all around, it was as if Jesus singled me out and asked, "Do you want to get well?

Did I want to get well?

I could stay right where I was - comfortable in the sinful life I'd grown callous to, or I could choose to be healed. That's what Jesus offers each of us- healing in the form of forgiveness for the sin that keeps us blind, lame, and paralyzed. An opportunity for a new life filled with His presence. I chose to get well!

 You also have a choice. "Do you want to get well?"

"...I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."  John 10:10