Pastor's Ponderings, February 27, 2017

Do You Want What Jesus Has For You?

What do you really want in life?  Do you really want employment, a great relationship, to be healthy, or to be wealthy? Many of us say that we would like to have these societally acceptable goals, but have no intention of really trying to get them.  We would like to practice medicine, but we are not interested in learning chemistry.  We want to be a great financier, but have no interest in mathematics.  It is difficult to be an NBA star without practicing basketball drills. Some of us are dreamers and fantasizers who have great goals, but make no attempt to do anything to improve our situation.

In the Bible, Jesus was visiting a pool where the sick lay waiting for an angel to annually come down and stir the water.  The first person that got into the pool would be healed. He noticed a sick person who had waited for almost forty years to be healthy. One might think that if you were sick for all of those years, it would seem to be obvious that you wanted to get well. When Jesus asked if he wanted to get well, instead of answering with a resounding “Yes”, the man began to explain why he had not been healed for all of those years (John 5:6-8).

Contrast this with a blind man who called to Jesus as soon as he heard that He was passing by.  In spite of those around him that wanted him to be quiet, he begged Jesus for mercy. When Jesus asked what he wanted, he answered without hesitation that he wanted to see (Mark 10:51).

Jesus healed both men, but God wants us to know that His ears are open to our requests that are in His will (1 John 5:14-15).  His will is that we are blessed (Deuteronomy 28:1-2).  He wants us healed, and He wants us to reach our goals in life (3 John 2), but God tells us that we must not doubt Him because if we do we cannot receive anything from Him (James 1:6-7). 

Let us go proactively to God and ask Him for wisdom on how to receive what we really want in our lives.  Now is not the time to be lazy or to procrastinate.  God likes diligently working people whom He says will be abundantly supplied (Proverbs 13:4). Do you want what Jesus has for you? Our answer is, “Yes, and thank you, Jesus.”

John 5:6-8
New International Version (NIV)

6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.

Mark 10:51
New International Version (NIV)

51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.

The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”

1 John 5:14-15
New International Version (NIV)

14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him

Deuteronomy 28:1-2
New International Version (NIV)

1 If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.
2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:

3 John 2
New International Version (NIV)

2 Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well

James 1:6-7
New International Version (NIV)

6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

Proverbs 13:4

Amplified Bible (AMP)

4 The soul (appetite) of the lazy person craves and gets nothing [for lethargy overcomes ambition],

But the soul (appetite) of the diligent [who works willingly] is rich and abundantly supplied.