As Christians we are taught that sin is evil, vile, and life ruining. Those are all truths. However, life teaches us that sin is pleasurable, easy, and actually quite comfortable. It is much harder to fight sin than it is to live with sin. Too often we get comfortable in our sin and neglect the better life that God has promised us. Sin offers momentary pleasure in exchange for eternal condemnation, while God offers temporary suffering in exchange for eternal glory. Sin is a life threatening disease and Jesus has offered us the cure.. but do we want it?
Lets take a look at the famous passage in John 5. Jesus comes to the pool near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem. The pool was called Bethesda and it is said to have been a miracle working pool. It was rumored that an angel would come down from Heaven and stir the pool. After this happens, the first person into the water would receive a miraculous healing from whatever they were struggling from. People traveled from all over to visit this pool in hopes of being healed. When Jesus visits the pool He comes upon a man that has been suffering from an illness for 38 years that has left him incapacitated. Day after day this man sat by the water, waiting for the angel to stir it, only to watch someone else receive healing because he was unable to make it into the water in time.
Jesus approaches this man and asks what seems to be a ridiculous question: “Do you want to be healed?” Well of course he does, Jesus! He’s been ill for 38 years so there’s probably nothing he wants more than to be healed. Why else would he be at this pool for as long as he had? The obvious answer is yes he wants to be healed. However, the man doesn’t respond as you would expect.
The man doesn’t even give a direct yes or no response to Jesus’ question. Instead, he answers with an excuse. He says to Jesus: “Sir, I have no one to help me into the water when it is stirred, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Which leads me to ask, did this man actually want to be healed or had he become content in his illness?
This man had been ill for a long time, 38 years of being on his mat and not much else. Sure, it wasn’t what he ultimately wanted but he had come to terms with it. Day after day he laid there, presumably begging for money, and as each day passed he became more comfortable in this lifestyle. While others were in the field working hard for hours per day, back aching, he was idle on his mat. It wasn’t luxurious, but it grew on him. This was his life, he was stuck in it so he might as well enjoy it. His life wasn’t ideal and he probably didn’t like the state he was in. He knew life could be better if he was healed, yet it was easy. This is how we get with sin and where my life has been multiple times in the past.
We all have sin in our life that needs to be defeated. We don’t like it. We know it is bad for us. We know we would be better off without it, but it’s comfortable. Change is hard. It takes no effort for me to sin. I do it naturally, we all do. However, God has a higher calling for us. God will not allow us to just lay idly in our sin. Go back and read Jesus’ question to the man again. This time read it as if he is asking you. Do you want to be healed?
If you believe God’s promises then you know you are better off without sin and you know God has more for you than sin could ever offer you. But.. are you willing to get out of your comfort zone, embrace the battle of sin, and accept God’s healing? The adversary will tell us that we are stuck. He will tell us that our sin is just a part of who we are and you cant change that. Sin is comfortable, don’t leave. Those are lies. We do not have to live in our sin. We don’t have to let sin consume us. We do not have to be content in our sin. We can live in God’s glory. We can allow the Holy Spirit to fill us. We can be happy in God. This isn’t the easy way of living but it is the most rewarding. This is the way to an abundant life, a life free of sin.
Only when we are willing to let go of the comfort that sin offers us are we able to experience what real comfort is. Comfort is being in God’s will and knowing that whatever life throws your way, God is there. No matter how uncomfortable life may seem, we know that the ultimate comfort lies ahead of us in heaven. So turn to Jesus today and accept his healing. Jesus told the man at the pool “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” And that is what he did. Today Jesus is telling you this: “Get up! Leave the comfort of your sin, and walk with me.” Will you?
