A Sobering Question

In the Twelve Steps tradition, the sixth step deals with a very important word – and that word is “readiness.” Are you ready to go to God for healing and restoration? That is precisely the question Jesus asked this man by the pool of Bethesda. He had been crippled for 38 years, waiting by this pool. And Jesus asked him the most perceptive or the most cruel question I’ve ever heard. He asked, “Do you want to be healed?” Because sometimes we get so comfortable with our afflictions and our problems that we really don’t want to give them up. We build our lifestyle around our problems.

So perhaps that is the question for us to consider today: Do you want to be healed? Are you ready for God to deal with that issue, that thought pattern, that habit that is holding you back from becoming all that God desires you to be? If you are, Jesus has the power to heal and to call you to “rise and walk” – in newness of life, in joy, in peace, and in freedom.