22Feb17

John 5:6
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?"

I had a running joke while we were deployed to Korea where I would, for the sake of our intelligence officer, put up quotes from Vladimir Putin. One of the quotes was, "If someone is determined to drown; you cannot save them." Putin used it in reference to struggling neighboring nations but, I actually find it to be all to true of people as well. Change starts in the heart and the heart is the thing that someone else cannot change for you. People come to me all the time talking about how they want to be a better Christian or get closer to God but, they are simply unwilling to change anything in their life to do so. They know where the sickness is, and they have had it for a long time, but they are not willing to get well. They are unwilling to make even the smallest change. But, before we judge too harshly, don't we all have something like this? Isn't there an area of your life where you can feel God saying, "Do you want to get well?" but, we like the way it is. We like the sin for the short term and so we suffer the effects of the long run. But, the long run is destined to be VERY long... like eternity long. So, when the question is asked "Do you WANT to get well?" what is your response?