“Do you want to get well?”
Jesus asked that question to the paralytic. Would you ask a blind man if he wants to see? Would you ask a beggar if he needs money? Yet, Jesus asked the obvious. Maybe because Jesus thinks that was not what the man really needed.
Thirty-eight years of lying on his mat, the man might have been accustomed to his life as a paralytic. Thirty-eight long years might have made him comfortable in his situation, waiting for people to bring him alms. The mat has become his identity. Yet, Jesus asked the man if he WANTED to get well, not if he NEEDED to.
Do you want to get well?
You may be trying to quit smoking or whatever addiction it is that you have. You are getting tired of trying to quit. You feel like all attempts are in vain. You know you NEED to quit because your addiction is destroying your life—your career, your relationship, your health, your finances.
Maybe you have found your comfort in your addiction that no matter how wrong it is, and how guilty you feel, you find yourself going back repeatedly. Maybe you love the attention you are getting from people sympathizing and trying to help you. Your addiction is your mat. It has become your identity. What will you do without it? Who will you become if you lose it? Do you really want to quit? Do you really WANT to get well?
Maybe you have been drowning in debts for years. You don’t know how to get out of it because you don’t have the means to do so. But every time you have a little extra cash, you buy something unnecessary. You justify it by telling yourself that with all the problems you are going through, you deserve a break. You deserve to splurge occasionally. Before you know it, all the extra money you have are gone. And your debts are still piling up.
You NEED to get out of debt, but do you really WANT to? How hard are you trying? Have you been trying to look for a financial mentor, read as many books about managing your money as you can? Today’s technology has been making it easy to find the resources you need to learn. Have you been disciplining yourself not to splurge on unnecessary things?
Maybe you have wanted to be physically fit for months or years now. Every start of the year, staying fit, going to the gym, or enrolling to fitness classes has been your New Year’s resolution. But leaving the comfort of your warm bed in a cold morning is just so hard to do. Running or going to the gym is too tedious a work. You want to be fit, but how desperate and willing are you to sacrifice a little to achieve it?
What is your mat? How comfortable are you lying on it and how long have you been there?
If you really want to live more, be more and see more, get up, pick up your mat and get started!.
