Day 17 | Do You Want to Grow?
January 25th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
John 5:1-8
When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in the condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid responded, “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.”
There are three types of people that cannot be helped. Those who will not acknowledge they have a problem. Those who are in trouble, but their pride won’t let them ask for help. Then there are those who cannot be helped because they really don’t want to get well, such was the case of the man at the pool. Scripture tells us that the angel of the Lord would stir the waters of the pool and whoever was in it at the time was healed. This man was at the pool everyday when the Lord asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
Logic begs the question, “If the man wanted to get well wouldn’t he have found a way to get in the pool?” If he wanted to get well he would have made whatever commitment necessary, whatever plans needed, whatever way possible to overcome the obstacles of his life.
Spiritually we have to ask ourselves, “Do we want to grow in Christ?” In order to do that we must find a way to remove the obstacles of apathy, pride, lack of commitment, lack of perseverance, and we must replace them with what we know will grow us: Christian community, devotion, prayer, fasting, service and other spiritual disciplines. If you’re not well, it’s time to get well! If you’re not growing, it’s time to begin growing! Make your own spiritual growth a matter of prayer today!
