21-day challenge Day #5: John 5

Read: John 5

My Key Verse: 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?"

My Reflections: A man lying on a mat, an invalid for 38 years and Jesus asks him if he wants to get well. Was Jesus being clueless, insensitive, sarcastic... Jesus was being perceptive. Some people don't really want to get well. I think about the movie, the Shawshank Redemption, and the description the "Red" gives of being "institutionalized." Getting so used to the bars that you rely on them. Maybe some people get so used to their physical or emotional illnesses that the illness becomes their refuge. "If I've failed to live up to what was expected of me, it's because of _______." An excuse to underperform. A reason to not be responsible. So Jesus asks him if he even wants to get well. Perhaps for the first time, the man was confronted by the opportunity to be well...I wonder if it was an easy decision to trade a life of no expectations for health?

My Prayer: God, what are the things in my life that you've been longing to heal me of, and yet I hang onto them because of some comfort factor. I'm like the vagrant invited in to the feast, given new, clean, expensive clothing to wear, and yet I hang onto my rags just in case. There are so many things I sill need to learn as a leader and a pastor. Please be paient with me, Father and keep showing me how far I still have to go. Help me let go of my crutches, my excuses to underperform and let me soar to the heights that you created me for.