A Necessary Inconvenience — Do You Want to be Well, Free, and Healed?

Have you ever encountered a necessary inconvenience?

I have. And I think after we spend a little time together here, you will have to agree that you have as well.

Do you want to be well, free, and healed?

You might be thinking, ” What a stupid question, who wouldn’t?”

But this is the question Jesus asks of the paralyzed man lying at the pool of Bethesda.

And it is the question we need to ask ourselves as well.

Think about it. If Jesus healed this man who had been paralyzed, this would mean others would no longer be taking care of his needs. He would have to get a job and pay his own way in the world. Up to this time, the man had been carried daily to the gate to beg, and at the end of the day, he was carried back home. What little money he made in this way provided him with his room and board.

 

Identity

This question Jesus asked also challenged the man’s identity. How was this man identified? He was “that crippled man” at the pool. Who would he become if Jesus healed him? In my mind, he would have traded up. From then on, he would be known as the paralyzed man that Jesus healed! Not a bad identity. Not at all.

But the question had to be asked. Did he want to be well?

Comfort Zone

Like this man, there are so many ways Christians can settle.  To change any of our life circumstances takes a lot of work. And, it can get uncomfortable. I can personally testify.

At the start of every Celebrate Recovery meeting, we recite eight principles using the acronym RECOVERY, each one corresponding to a Beatitude. I’d like to share two principles with you here to demonstrate some of the work that must take place before change can happen.

E: Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him, and that He has the power to help me recover. “Happy are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Matthew 5:4

And V: Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly ask Him to remove my character defects. “Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires.” Matthew 5:6

It Takes Humility

When we admit that what we have been doing isn’t working, things can finally start to change. Paul expresses his own struggle in Romans 7:14 – 25 and came to the conclusion that he was powerless to control his tendency to change, and that the only one who can deliver us from the clutch of sin, or any bad habit, is Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul made a conscious choice to delight in the law of God.

I think we can now see that the question Jesus asked the paralyzed man implied some future inconvenience and was not an easy one to answer. But it appears Jesus showed up when the man had had enough. He had reached the “stick a fork in me, I am done with this” place in life. The man said yes and was healed.

Yes is just the start

Every week, I hear testimonies from women who have reached this desperate place. They are tired of trying to manage life on their own. What they have been doing hasn’t worked. They have reached their messy, strung-out bottom. But the glory in it all? Right then is when Jesus shows up. Not with condemnation, but unfathomable Love. Compassion. Mercy. And Grace.

After one says yes and places their trust in Jesus or remembers they are a child of God and returns to Him, the hard work begins. It is a very vulnerable time. Like newborn babes with a traumatic history, it is time to unlearn and replace all the lies with God’s truth. This is when discipleship and bible study within a community become critical.

No longer numb

One woman recently shared how hard it is to face the truth when sober. For years, she numbed all unwanted feelings with alcohol and drugs. Now she is facing the consequences of her past actions and is doing the hard things to get her life back. She is a rockstar in my eyes.

When we have others cheering us on who can testify to the freedom they have found, we are encouraged to stay the course. And when we choose to be inconvenienced and do the work? Freedom is found. One of the most beautiful things to experience and celebrate.

Death Therapy

Paul directs us to remember — the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in us, and He will provide us with the strength we need. It is through the Spirit that we can put to death our old ways and kick the lies of the enemy to the curb FOR GOOD. And when we don’t know what to pray? The spirit will help us with that, too.

Romans 8 in the Message Bible bears the heading: The Solution is Life on God’s Terms.

Verse 11: “It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s!”

Verses 31: “So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us?”

That’s Love

And the passage continues: “And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture.” Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ!

That sounds like freedom to me.

Have you reached the “stick a fork in this, I am done with it,” place? Jesus is asking if you want to be healed, free, made new.

All he needs is your yes.

If you want to be well, free, and healed, there will be a necessary inconvenience involved. But through the help of Christ, freedom awaits.

Remember, who the Son sets free is FREE INDEED.

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A full list of the eight principles used in the Celebrate Recovery program can be found here.

The twelve-step recovery program Celebrate Recovery offers is not just for those addicted to Alcohol and drugs. It is for anyone wanting freedom from all hurts, hangups, or habits. In my opinion, it is also one of the best discipleship programs out there.

To find a CR near you, click here.