"Do You Want to Get Well" - My Article in the Southside Messenger

Spirit & Truth # 211

“Do You Want to Get Well?”

                                                                     (c) 2011               

By Rev. Greg Smith

Many people are disappointed to see their doctors.  It may be because their physicians are incompetent.  Or it may be that their doctors are right, all too often—and the news they give isn’t good.  “Your cholesterol is too high,” or “Your blood pressure is too low.”  When you get news like this, usually there’s something that can be done.  But what happens when the doctor gives you bad news, and there’s nothing that can be done?

Where do you find hope?  Where do you turn for healing?

            John 5:1-14 tells about a man who had waited for healing for thirty-eight years, beside a pool known for its miraculous curative properties.  Yet all this time, he had not been able to step into the restorative waters. 

“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.”

                        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 5:6-9 NIV).

“Do you want to get well?” What kind of a question is that?  Shouldn’t we take it for granted that the man wanted to get well?  Hadn’t he waited by the pool all this time?  No—we shouldn’t assume that he wanted to get well.  I’ve met many people who keep doctors and hospitals in business because they love the drama of being sick or because they enjoy the pity they receive from others.  I’ve known others who trusted their psychologist’s advice more than they relied on God for strength.  The man’s proximity to a place of healing wasn’t a sure indicator of anything.  So Jesus, always a gentleman, did not want to force His healing on anyone.  “Do you want to get well?” He asked the man.

Jesus asks you the same thing.  He desires to heal your anxieties, addictions, sins, and sicknesses.  He wants you to learn to rise up and walk on your own, without making excuses or expecting someone else to help you.  He wants to see your body, soul, and spirit made whole, but first He asks, “Do you want to get well?”

If you decide that you really want God’s healing, just step into it.  Let Him transform your life.  Philippians 1:6 (NLT) says, “I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”  Trust Him for your healing.  Then trust Him for every step thereafter. Walk with Him.  He will never let you fall.