Do You Want to Get Well?

That’s the first question.

Ask yourself, do I want to get well?

It sounds silly, right? Of course everyone wants to be well. You would assume. And yet, we know people who are just really comfortable in their dis-ease or their dis-function or their victimhood. Maybe they don’t know another way. Maybe they have not seen the possibility of living differently. But usually, they have thought, “There must be a better way”. And if they have thought that, they must want that. Deep down.

The thing is…If you live a large part of your life as the ____________, then maybe you don’t want to change that. Even if the ___________ is not positive or productive.  You may feel scared of what may be on the other side of change…the devil you know and all that. It’s your identity. Even if it’s an identity that is beneath who you were created to be. You may feel safe in that self imposed prison.

In Scripture, Jesus asked a man who had been an invalid for 18 years, “Do you want to be well?” And the man started talking about what he didn’t have…like we do…”well this is just the way I am and I guess this is how I’ll always be and I’ve tried everything…” Jesus wasn’t having it. He said, “Pick up your mat and walk.” Done. Healed.

“When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” (They went to the pool to be healed so he was thinking there was no way to be healed if he couldn’t get in pool, yada, yada) 

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.” -John 5:5-9

But the story goes on. Jesus comes in contact with that man again. Of course this is not a mistake or a coincidence. Jesus said to him, “See, you are well again, stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” This is so good because it reminds us that Jesus isn’t after surface healing. He sees our hearts.  Yes, he can heal your physical ailments but what we all need is a soul doctor, a physician of the heart, mind and spirit, we need freedom. Jesus met up with this man again to remind him that he could fall back into sickness and darkness again, to stay vigilant.

Think of when you do something wrong or catch yourself in a pickle and you pray, “God, just get me out of this and I will never do it again. ” And what happens? We are spared and we continue to go down that same dark path. We forget about the healer.

When I was in my 20s, I was held up at gun point in Chicago. It was terrifying. I started suffering panic attacks and could barely leave my house. I kept going to Doctors and begging to be fixed but to no avail. I did learn how to breathe with yoga breath and I started doing yoga and I felt relief from my symptoms. I could manage my fear and anxiety. I could slow my breath and get on the subway without a panic attack and I resumed a somewhat back to normal life. But it wasn’t until I asked Jesus onto my yoga mat that I understood real healing.  Real healing is freedom. Real healing is not behavior modification or managing symptoms or white knuckling through life grinding our teeth but “holding it together”. No way! He has so much more for us!

We can learn to manage an eating disorder. Jesus can set us free from it!

We can learn to manage a drinking problem. Jesus can set us free from it!

We can learn to ignore our feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness. Jesus can set us free from them!

We can learn to cover up our shame. Jesus can set us free from it!

We can learn to manage our anxiety and fear. Jesus can set us free from it!

So:

1. Do you want to get well?
2. Do you want to stay that way?

When Jesus met me there on my yoga mat and told me I can rest, He told me I don’t need to be afraid ever again. He told me I was free. He promised He had plans for me. He unburdened me so I could live an abundant life of passion and purpose. And then He gave me this, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” from Galatians 5. He knows my propensity for sin and He knows that darkness has a strong pull, fear waits like a raging lion to devour us. And this is why I stay connected to Jesus. I never doubt that He is the only way to freedom and the only route to stay there.

This world is dark. It’s scary. We sin. We get into ruts and we may live years or decades in disfunction. But God sees. He knows. He heals.

He asks, “Do you want to get well?”

He’s waiting for your “yes”.

Make today the day.