Faulty Thinking

The pool of Bethesda had long been the place where people who were in need of healing would gather to get rid of whatever ailed them. If they were the first to step into the water as it began to swirl, they would be healed.

According to early manuscripts of the scriptures, the explanation of the waters was possibly folklore. Whether folklore or real, imagine being there for 38 years with the thought, “I’ll NEVER be healed because I am crippled and someone will always beat me into the water!” That kind of thinking is hopeless and gets you nowhere. You begin to accept your plight as forever.

Did you catch that? 38 YEARS. This lame man had been at that pool for 38 years with “lame” thinking. In his mind there was no hope.

But then along came Jesus, who ask him a simple question, “Would you like to get well?” On the surface this seems like a silly question, but it wasn’t. Jesus wanted to know where this guy’s thinking was about being well. The man’s answer told it all. The first words out of his mouth were, “I can’t!”

Jesus needed his thinking in the right direction. He had to quit depending on others to “put him in the water.” Even with Jesus right there in the middle of his situation, it was going to take action on his part for a healing to take place. Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”

This man who previously had absolutely no hope, folded up his mat and walked after 38 years of just lying there wishing. This was a miracle, but Jesus didn’t stop there, he wanted him to be whole and safe…free from anything else that could bring him harm.

The scriptures say that later on Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.”

Where are you in your thinking? Is it faulty? Is it based on what others can do for you? Is it based on what you can and should do through the power of Jesus?

Maybe you have received miracles in your life but continue to think it is okay to do worldly things. Don’t be fooled by this faulty thinking. I think Jesus would say to you just as he did the healed man, “stop sinning!”

John 5:6-7 NLT

[6] When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, "Would you like to get well?" [7] "I can't, sir," the sick man said, "for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me."

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