Do You Really?

When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”
John 5:6‭-‬7 NLT

This recently became very real for me. I kept twisting in my chair and a friend said why don’t you go to the chiropractor? You want your back to feel better don’t you?

And this verse popped in my head. Because the answer is yes, but the truth is that I don’t want to do it. I don’t want the initial discomfort and I don’t want to pay for it. So my mouth may say yes, but my actions scream no. And I personally understood why Jesus asked the question in this verse.

Jesus asks do we want to get well because WE need to answer the question. We need to realize areas in our lives that we say we want to be better, but don’t long for better based on our actions.

Do you want to be healthy? Do you want to be stronger? Then eat better. Workout. Do you want to feel better? Then stop complaining. Sometimes we really do need Jesus to do a miracle. And sometimes we really do need to understand that Jesus has already given us what we need to accomplish some of these things right now.

Jesus didn’t want to not heal. He just wanted the man to know what he really needed. Do you want to get well isn’t a trick question. It’s the response we muddle. Because if the answer is yes, then what are you doing about it today?

If you want to be better, are you doing things today so that you can be? That’s the real question with an ever-changing answer.

Study this Book – Ecclesiastes 2

These verses in chapter 2 are interesting to me:

Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere.
Ecclesiastes 2:10‭-‬11 NLT

I think it’s easy to read it and say Solomon lived a spoiled life to find meaning. I tend to associate spoiled with the lack of hard work. And of course getting everything a person wants. And he said he did that. He didn’t deny himself and whatever he wanted he took.

But as you read you see that he also found pleasure in hard work. Perhaps he became a workaholic and “found” some type of reward in that.

These two ideas are contradictory of course. On one hand, there’s this lifestyle of spoiling oneself, and on the other hand he’s working hard. And honestly, I believe that is the point of all of this.

The point of this is that Solomon has tried to find meaning and value in life in everything. No matter where you fall on the life spectrum, Solomon has tried to find meaning there. Whether it was in doing nothing or doing everything, he tried it. And in the end, the only value he found in life was in God.

That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 NLT

Important Questions

Was I better today? Was I better today than I was yesterday? Was I better today than I was a week ago? Was I better today than I was a year ago? If the answer is no, then I need to work towards that answer becoming yes.

Was I grateful today? Was I more grateful today than I was yesterday? Was I more grateful today than last week or last month or last year?

Was I kind? Did I encourage someone? Did I honor God today? How did I honor Him?

It sounds like a lot of pressure, doesn’t it? But the truth is, everyday we should be working towards being even just a little better than the day before.

And the only real way to get better is to draw closer to God. That makes me think, maybe the question is, did I draw near to God today? If the answer to that is yes, then it’s more likely that the answers to all of these questions will be yes.

Unbelievable

This morning, I was finishing up my morning time, and thinking about how real God is. Lately, I’ve been thinking or having passing thoughts of how I know He exists. You know, if someone were to ask me how do I know He’s real what would I say?

Certainly, He has proven to be real in healing throughout my family, deliverance from many situations, and I’ve seen Him in the ability that others have had to forgive people for some very cruel things. A person who has been abused I truly believe can only forgive their abuser through the grace and strengthening of God.

And I guess the thing that stuck out with me today was, why can I not believe in God? If a person can believe that somehow this world and its creation was formed by chance, isn’t that a bit farfetched? I mean wouldn’t it be easier to believe that there is a God who could put all of this together?

My question is, if you have the right to believe that God doesn’t exist, why is it wrong for me to believe that He does?

If you can believe that this world created itself, and think that makes sense, then why is it completely irrational to believe that God could orchestrate it all?

Romans 1:20 (NLT)

²⁰ For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.