One man was there who had been sick for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had already been there a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to get well?”    John5:5-6 HCSB

There was a pool in Jerusalem called Bethesda where a large number of the sick-blind, lame and paralyzed would lay and wait for the moving of the water. An angel would come down to the pool from time to time and stir the water. Then the first one to get into the pool once the water was stirred would be healed.

Jesus came upon a man who was paralyzed and had lain by this pool for 38 years. I’ve heard sermons on just how long this man had been laying there and why he had been laying there for 38 years.

You’d think if you’d been there for 38 years and Jesus walked up and asked if you want to be healed, you would scream, “Yes, please!” But that’s now how this man responded. He responded with an excuse. In verse 7, this man told Jesus, “Sir, I don’t have a man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”

I’ve heard some pastors say this may be why Jesus asked if he truly wanted to be healed. If you’ve ever dealt with someone suffering from an addiction, then you know they have to want help. When they are forced to get help, they are more likely to relapse.

The same holds true when we are in bondage to our sin. We have to want to be healed. We have to want to rid ourselves of our sin. We have to make a choice. We have to decide to accept what Jesus has to offer or to reject it.

Have you made that choice? So many people claim they want Jesus, they may even go through the motions of going to church on Sunday and telling people they are saved. They might have even walked the aisle and made a public profession of faith and been baptized. But they’ve made no movement or no progress.

Warren Wiersbe commented that perhaps this man’s will had become paralyzed as well as his body. Sometimes we become comfortable in a situation, even if it’s a bad situation. People can become comfortable in a home that is chaotic and abusive if this is the type of situation they have always been in.

Even our sin can bring us comfort at times, but eventually it will destroy us. So, you have to ask yourself do you want to be saved? Do you want to come to Jesus? Do you want to accept the salvation He has offered?

He’s not going to force it on you, but He’s there waiting with outstretched arms. He wants us to come to Him and accept the life He has to offer. He wants us to be free from our sin and addictions. He wants us to have peace and joy in our lives, but it’s our choice.

The other thing I wondered as I read this Scripture was why the man stayed by the pool. I mean we don’t know if he lived there 24/7 or someone brought him there each day. But his response to Jesus indicates that healing for him in that pool was impossible, yet he continued to lay there in hopes.

Well, just like that man, salvation for us is impossible without Jesus. If you are trying to be saved by any other means, you are simply wasting your time. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Me.

Do you want to be saved? If so, there is only one way. Trust in Him today.

Have a great day!