DO YOU WANT TO BE WELL?

Time for a Check-Up! - Karen Pourbabaee

“Do you want to be well?” John 5:6 NAB

Lent, the forty day journey to Easter, is a season to pause for a check-up. It can be a season of grace and renewal. A time to focus on things that ought to characterize our lives as disciples of Christ. We shouldn’t just presume we are okay. And we shouldn’t fear discovering that we are not .What is crippling you? What change could make you well? Do you want to be well? 

Christ is waiting to examine your spiritual wounds and ills. Have you made an appointment yet? The Divine Physician examines with love. And He has the perfect prescription: Grace and mercy. When you open yourself to the Lord’s grace and mercy, He responds with His miraculous healing power. Oh, it won’t likely be a sudden zap; the Lord’s healing is more likely to be a work in progress, a recovery of spirit, soul, or body. 

The grace of Lent is an invitation to make permanent changes. Accept the invitation and embrace your weaknesses, so that you may be made strong. To embrace is to accept readily, to take in mentally, to perceive. Embracing is an important part of the check-up. The Lord then promises, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) 

Do you want to be well? Focus. Embrace. Wait for the Lord, like the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda. Receive His grace. The waters never made him well, but one Word from Jesus changed everything. So as you wait, listen for His words, “…Rise, take up your mat, and walk.” (John 5:8) Walk in the newness of life as you celebrate Easter.