I have an A-type personality, a very analytical mind. I'm always considering my options, thinking about future choices, trying to pick the best choice for both the long run and short-run. I'm constantly weighing pros and cons, making "what-if" contingencies and scenarios in my mind.
In all honestly, I probably do that too much. There's a point when you really need to just let go and live, and that's something that God is teaching me more about daily. But that's not the point that I'm trying to make today. I was reading in John 5, about the crippled man that Jesus healed at the pool of Bethesda, and something that Jesus said really struck me. "Stop sinning," He said, "or something worse may happen to you."
Really? What could be worse than what had already happened to the man? He had been an invalid for 38 years. For 38 years, he had been forced to watch as countless others were healed in the pools of Bethesda, while he sat on the edge, unable to get into the waters because he had no one to help him in.
The wheels of my analytical mind starting turning. What could possibly be worse than that? Forced to take a backseat in your own life for almost 4 decades, while the rest of the world literally passed you by. To me, that seems like the worst fate on this earth imaginable.
But Jesus wasn't making a statement about life on this earth. He was making a spiritual statement. Some may say that Jesus' words may be interpreted to mean that we deserve whatever bad things happen to us because of the sins that we have committed. But I think it's saying something else. What's worth than a life without legs and mobility? A life without Jesus. Why would the man's life have been worse if he had kept sinning? Because he would have been without Jesus. No matter what you may be going through, it can always get worse if you don't have Jesus in your life. But don't let that get you down...because if you DO have Jesus, it can - and will - always get better.
In all honestly, I probably do that too much. There's a point when you really need to just let go and live, and that's something that God is teaching me more about daily. But that's not the point that I'm trying to make today. I was reading in John 5, about the crippled man that Jesus healed at the pool of Bethesda, and something that Jesus said really struck me. "Stop sinning," He said, "or something worse may happen to you."
Really? What could be worse than what had already happened to the man? He had been an invalid for 38 years. For 38 years, he had been forced to watch as countless others were healed in the pools of Bethesda, while he sat on the edge, unable to get into the waters because he had no one to help him in.
The wheels of my analytical mind starting turning. What could possibly be worse than that? Forced to take a backseat in your own life for almost 4 decades, while the rest of the world literally passed you by. To me, that seems like the worst fate on this earth imaginable.
But Jesus wasn't making a statement about life on this earth. He was making a spiritual statement. Some may say that Jesus' words may be interpreted to mean that we deserve whatever bad things happen to us because of the sins that we have committed. But I think it's saying something else. What's worth than a life without legs and mobility? A life without Jesus. Why would the man's life have been worse if he had kept sinning? Because he would have been without Jesus. No matter what you may be going through, it can always get worse if you don't have Jesus in your life. But don't let that get you down...because if you DO have Jesus, it can - and will - always get better.
John 5:1-15
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 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?” 7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “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.” 8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” 11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ” 12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?” 13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. 14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
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