Infirmity, Healing and Grace

On my way to one of my favorite places to write and drink a latte, I ended up behind this vehicle that had a license plate number on it and it reminded me of a scripture. God has mysterious ways to reach out to me. I love it! I'm sure this guy had not one thought that his license plate was in form of a scripture. After I sat down, I looked up the scripture before I began writing. The scripture didn't speak to me and I was like, "Okay God, I know you wanted me to go here. What's going on?" He then spoke and said, "I want you to read the whole chapter." Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Got it! I started writing and said to myself that I would read it later because I really had to get some work done. Well, it's two days later and I'm just now reading the scripture.

As I start from the beginning of John chapter 5, it begins to speak to me immediately and God follows up after every scripture speaking to my heart. The beginning of John chapter 5 talks about the pool of Bethesda and the impotent man who had the infirmity for 38 years.

Jesus approached the man and asked him will he be made whole and the guy came up with all kinds of excuses, which were valid (especially to him) of why he isn't whole. He had avoided Jesus' question. Why? Did he not believe? Did he feel like he deserved his condition? I ask that because Jesus told him later in the temple to go and sin no more unless a worse thing comes upon him. Had he become comfortable in the condition? Did he become familiar with the infirmity? There are a lot of questions that arises as to why he avoided Jesus' question. Nevertheless, no matter how he felt about any of it, Jesus could have cared less. All he wanted to know is if the man wanted to be healed.

Jesus never responded to his excuses. He just said, "Rise, take up your bed and walk." He took away ALL of the man's excuses.

What excuses are you making for staying in the state that you're in that you're not even sure if you still want to be in? Jesus doesn't care how you got here; He wants you healed and to sin no more. All of us who has been addicted to something at one time or another can attest to wanting to stay in the sin and yet feeling enough disgrace to want to get out of it. We know it's not good for us but we keep going after it. Why? It's a force stronger than ourselves that is pulling us. We've admitted to it, ask for help for it and really try to come out of it and yet find ourselves back in it. Part of us enjoy it because of the temporal pleasures of it and what it takes us away from while the other half desperately wants to let it go. Something has to break. Something has to give. Will it be the infirmity we break or give ourselves over to it?

Choices, we all have choices to make. When we make a choice to do something or have a made up mind, we put things in place to keep us from the addiction. If we do not choose to break the addiction it will manifest into an infirmity. We have to choose to break the addiction. We have to choose a better way for ourselves. We have to choose to take responsibility. We have to choose not to find a cowardly medical way out of it...
Side Note: We always want to look for a name for something we're dealing with and attach it to us. A name to attach itself is very dangerous. Once we give it a name it becomes a living organism, whether physical or metaphorically and anything that is living contains power to do exactly what it's designed and named to do. Also, in naming something or finding a name for it is nothing more than a scapegoat. The scapegoat takes the blame and all of the responsibility which leaves the recipient free from anything they've done and or will do in the future. Back to the message...
Once we decide to choose to let the addiction go, it is then we are free. It's not saying we won't make another mistake but it is saying that we've decided to bring Jesus into our lives, our mess and help us out of the situation. It all starts with a choice.

When we have made the choice to invite Jesus in and allow him to heal us, we move from God's mercy to the Father's grace. When Jesus says for us to Rise, Take Up our Bed and Walk then we need to choose to do just that and walk out our healing. There are those who believe that we shouldn't walk around proclaiming that we are blessed because of what we've done and the kind of life we lived. They will fight our healing, our deliverance. It will be the ones closest to us because they're the ones we hurt the most and felt majority of the impact. It will also be the ones who have preached healing to us and then still hang our past over our heads. It will also be us because we will condemn ourselves for being happy but we don't have to because Jesus has set us free! We have the right to be happy and the grace to live it.

Rise! Take up your bed and Walk!