Don’t Hesitate! :: Deeper Devotion

John 5:8
Jesus said to him, “Arise, take up your pallet, and walk.” And immediately the man became well, and took up his pallet and began to walk.

Let me tell you about the Master Physician. I witnessed His authority and power time after time following that first encounter. With His words, God the Father spoke creation into existence and breathed life into dust. Christ the Son also created with His words; He spoke strength into bones, sight into eyes, and life into death. Like His father, He too breathed life into humanity… at least He did for me. I can’t explain the thrill and excitement that surged through my bones the day Christ made me, a lame man, to walk! What joy and exhilaration to run and to jump after thirty-eight years of lying helpless by that pool.

That’s right, thirty-eight years… among a multitude of sick, blind, lame and withered. I longed to be healed, but had never been given the opportunity.
Then came Jesus
The Christ. The Messiah of Israel. They called Him Immanuel, “God with Us.”

He wasn’t the first person I had seen walking among the sick in thirty-eight years. He was, however, the first that didn’t pass me by. This man was not like the rest who pushed and shoved to save themselves. This man picked me out. I felt that He knew everything about me. He came directly to me and asked, “Do you wish to get well?”

At first I didn’t understand. I tried to explain my situation… how I had no one to place me in the healing waters. But then, I thought this might be it! This might be my ticket to the water. If only He would offer to carry me!
He didn’t though.
He simply said, “Arise, take up your pallet and walk.”
At first, I hesitated, you can imagine how I would be mocked if I tried to stand… but only fell to the ground. You can imagine what it would have done to me, can’t you? But that hesitation… it only lasted a second. Almost immediately I knew something had changed. I knew I had been healed. All of the sudden I didn’t care what anybody else was thinking. I rose to my feet, took up my mat, and for the first time in almost four decades… I began to walk! Jesus Christ sought me out. He healed me of my infirmities and I became like a new person. It was a miracle!

I tell you this because He can do the same for you. He can help you up. He will seek you out and ask you the same question He asked me.
“Do you wish to get well?”
I pray that you would not hesitate any longer than I did. I cannot imagine how my life would have ended if I had not believed this Man could have healed me. In my life, I saw many believe in His name, yet remain the same. I always wondered if they had truly believed.

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