Embracing change

The Bible contains many fascinating stories from Jesus’ life. One of the most interesting is found in John 5:1-15 about a man waiting to be healed at the Pool of Bethesda. Tradition had it that periodically, an angel would stir the water, and the first person into the pool afterward would be healed.

I cannot imagine being confined to bed for 38 years, but that is how long the man had been there waiting to be healed. Jesus asked him, “Would you like to get well?” It seems like a strange question. If he did not want to be healed, why had he spent the last 38 years there? Jesus’ question, however, is more revealing than you might think.

The lame man had been there for over half his life. Although he was still there, he probably no longer expected to be healed. He almost certainly knew everyone around him. If he were made well, his entire life would change; even when change is good, it is never easy. Mark Twain once joked, “The only person who likes change is a wet baby.”

At first glance, the answer to Jesus’ question seems obvious, but it is not. All of us have areas we should change but do not. We are tempted to hang on to habits that doom us to a future that is no better than our past. The lame man was probably living a life of hopelessness; convinced things would never change and subconsciously accepting that his life would always be the way it was.

While his preconceptions were logical, they were also wrong. We all have times when we focus on how things have been in the past and ignore how God can change the future.

Several years ago, I had a conversation with a man who believed God was unfair. It was not difficult to see why he was struggling, but like the man in this story, I could also see he was focused on the wrong thing and was unaware of how God might use his circumstances to change him and his future.

In this story, Jesus told the man, “Stand up, pick up your mat and walk.” The man was healed, but it was not like he expected. While we sometimes resist change, God is never content to leave us where we are; he inevitably changes us. I do not know all the ways God wants to change you or me, but I know he wants to help us become a better version of ourselves. John 5 teaches us to embrace the dream that God can change our circumstances and us. Clinging too tightly to the past can keep us from living a more meaningful life in the future.