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?” (John 5:6 NIV)
Sometimes we stand in the way of our own healing. We need to ask ourselves, "Do I truly want to get well?" There are some people who really don't want to get well. It seems these people have become accustomed to having their problems around and they're just content to live with them. Sometimes people actually get addicted to having problems. It becomes their identity, their life. Their problems define everything they think, and say, and do. Their life revolves around their problems. When we have a deep-seated and lingering disorder we may be tempted to make that the focal point of our life. If we allow that to happen then it will control our thinking and dominate every conversation we have. Our belief system is based on what we think and in turn influences how we act.
…Because you despise what I tell you and trust instead in oppression and lies, calamity will come upon you suddenly—like a bulging wall that bursts and falls. In an instant it will collapse and come crashing down. (Isaiah 30:12-13 NLT)
We need to stop living each day of our lives based on lies and even injustices of the past. We need to bring the events that influenced our current belief system before the Lord. We need to ask His forgiveness for any part we played in allowing those events to control our lives. We need to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God so that He can influence us for good. Because of God’s great love for us, Jesus came into the world to give His life so that we could be free from sin and reconciled to our Heavenly Father.
For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT)
Today, let’s determine to get free from the bondage of our self-absorption. We really need God’s love and power to help us face our problems with confidence. Strength will come to deal with any difficulty as we surrender our will and our lives to the God who loves and cares for each of us.
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