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ARTICLES AND ESSAYS

These days, I am doing what I can to help a crack addict go straight. He had been clean for more than a year, but two weeks ago, he slipped off the wagon, disappeared, and when he showed up two days later, he looked horrible. For 48 hours, he did not eat, sleep, or take care of himself in any way, and he smoked $400 worth of crack cocaine. He then proceeded to sleep for eighteen hours.

When he was sober again, one of my questions to him was, “Do you want to get well?” That sounds like a dumb question with an obvious answer. Doesn’t everyone want to get well? People seldom admit it, but often the true answer, sadly, is “no.”

Jesus understood that. The Apostle John describes Jesus’ conversation with the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda. He had been an invalid for thirty-eight years and had been trying to be the first one into the healing waters for a long time. Jesus knew that, and yet he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” Jesus did not presume a “yes” answer.

For some, there is a payoff for staying sick. My friend is struggling with moving from a lifestyle that is all about him, to one of total surrender, and trusting God to do a work of healing in his soul. He is a flaming extrovert, and, in the past, he has thrived on the attention and the activity that swirls around him when he falls. And there has always been someone willing to take him in, and he had a perverse need to test people to see if they would reject him when he fell. And he knew, that when things got bad, he could always find some stuff, and, temporarily, feel good again. But he is learning that the payoff isn’t worth it—his addiction is leading him on the pathway to death, and he is scared. And he is gradually finding out who he is in Christ.

As individuals, each of us needs to ask ourselves, and answer honestly, “Do I want to get well?” What is the one thing that is keeping me from truly experiencing the power of God in my life, my family, and my ministry? What is the “sin that so easily entangles,” and is slowing me down in the race? How am I doing in my pursuit of total surrender?

Then try it out with your team. Ask one another, what is it that is at the bottom of all of our issues? What is the one thing that we never really talk about in front of each other? What are we harboring that is staying the hand of God and keeping him from releasing his power in our midst? And what is the resistance all about? Do we like the feeling of power we get when we play our games? Do we relish being “right?” What is the payoff for the status quo? If you ask these questions in quietness, humility, and openness, you will find the answer.

There is a lot at stake. Jesus prayed that we would be one as he and the Father are one. Why? He tells us that the single compelling evidence to the world that he revealed himself through Jesus is the unity of those who follow him. The authenticity of our message rests squarely on our willingness to be healed. Without love, forgiveness, and unity our ministry is a sham.

What is also at stake is nothing less than intimacy with God. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” God’s presence and power in my life rests in my obedience by faith.

Do you want to get well?

References: John 5, Hebrews 12, John 17, Matthew 5

Written by: Jonathan Edwards