Do You Want to Get Well? (John 5:6)

"Do you want to get well?"

It seems like an odd question.  I mean, who wouldn't want to get well, right?  Regardless of whatever may be "wrong" wouldn't everyone want to get well?

"Do you want to get well?" 

I have been pondering this question for days now.  It stuck in my head and it won't go away.  

Jesus is the one who asked this question.  

In John 5:6, he is in Jerusalem at a pool that is known for healing and by the pool lies a man who has been an invalid for 38 years.  38 years is a long time.  A lifetime some might say.  In fact, purely by coincidence I am sure, it is my exact lifetime (a fact you won't often hear me admit). Though the invalid has been lying by this pool of healing for years, he has never gotten in.  He has never received the healing his body so desperately needs.  So Christ simply asks him, "Do you want to get well?"  And as odd as it may sound, it's a fair question given the circumstances.  For years healing has been right there, just with in reach, and the invalid has never done what is needed in order to receive it.

Of course the invalid has his excuses.  He lists all the reasons that he has never been made well, there is no one to help him, other's always get in before he is able to.  But honestly, those are just excuses.  The question remains, "Do you want to get well?"  Jesus asks the question, and just like that the man is healed.  He gets up, takes his mat and begins to walk.  It turns out the invalid DID want to get well.  And Jesus healed him.  

The end.  Or so I thought.

Turns out the question, "Do you want to get well?" has stuck with me.  And I am forced to ask myself, "Do I want to get well?"  It's not that I am sick, I am perfectly healthy.  I have full mobility, little sickness and generally good physical health.  

But what about spiritual health.  Am I as healthy spiritually as I need to be...as I could be... as I should be?  And if I'm not, then do I want to get well?

The truth of the matter is no.  I am not as spiritually healthy as I need to be...could be...or should be.  I still have big sin in my life that I battle with on a daily basis.  I am inherently selfish, I am impatient and too quick to anger.  I am prideful and at times materialistic.  And the worst part is, the very worst part, is that many of these things are crutches to me.  They are so much a part of who I am that I don't WANT to give them up.  And if being spiritually healthy MEANS giving them up, than honestly, I'm not sure I want to get well.

There are parts of my life, parts of me that keep me from being as spiritually healthy as I could be.  And getting well would mean giving these things up.  Things that I love, things that have been part of me for 38 years.  Things that make me the person that I am, that are part of my identity.  Am I willing to give them up?  Do I REALLY want to get well?
 I can justify why I these things are so important to me, I can list the reason I feel validated concerning them, but honestly those are just excuses.  The question remains, do I want to be spiritually well?  And if so, am I willing to give up pieces of me that are not pleasing to God.  

"Do I want to get well?" 

Yes, I do!  More than anything I want to be the person Christ is calling me to be, even if that means giving up things I love.  Even if it means changing a big part of me.  Heal me Christ in a way that only you can.  

My question to you today is, "Do you want to get well?"