Daily Devotions
Do You Want to be Healed?
Reading for November 6th: John 5-6
Weekly reading for November 1-7: John 1-5
One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?"
John 5:5-6
"Do you want to be healed?"
That seems like a silly question to ask a paralyzed man, but Jesus asked this for a reason. Why did he?
There are many who are sick and don't want to be made well. We live a self-destructive lifestyle. We make the same foolish decisions again and again, but we feel comfortable in our slavery. Freedom scares us.
Jesus won't give us anything against our will. He never forced anyone to follow Him. Jesus is shepherd not a cowboy. Cowboys drive. Shepherds lead. He wants disciples who freely choose him, not captives who are forced into service.
"Do you want to be healed?"
Jesus knows there are those who are sick but don't realize it (or accept it). He won't force the prescription on us. He is the Great Physician, but he only heals those who want help. "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." (Luke 5:31-32)
"Do you want to be healed?"
Father God, we hear the Great Physician asking us the question. Help us to see our true condition. Help us recognize our selfish choices which made us the way we are. Give us grace that we might turn and desire to finally be healed.
