I was the one who broke the towel rack in the hall bathroom.
I knew it would only be a matter of time as it was not securely in the wall.
And then the hand towel sat by the sink. . . . Days turned into weeks into months.
This became the norm. And then we had company coming to visit. Suddenly I found the time to fix the towel rack.
As we walk through life each day, it’s easy to assume certain things are what they are, that what we’re experiencing within ourselves is all there is, and particular areas of our life will be what they’ll be. In John 5, we meet someone who had a ‘particular area’ and assumed it was what it was.
John 5:1-9a
After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids – blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, He said to him, ‘Do you want to be healed?’ The sick man answered Him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Get up, take up your bed, and walk.’ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
Couple of parallels between this story and pornography & lust.
First, notice that this was at the Sheep Gate. This was a small space in the temple, utilized for the washing of sheep being brought in for sacrifice.
It had to be humid due to the spring so think sauna.
I would imagine this was not a desirable place to be, the smell alone being noteworthy. Despite that, Jesus entered to have a conversation with the man.
No matter where you’re at, how paralyzed you feel with pornography & lust, Jesus wants to meet you where you’re at.
Let’s be clear.
THERE IS NO PLACE YOU ARE AT OR COULD GO THAT JESUS ISN’T WILLING TO ENTER.
Second, Jesus’s question is important, and one you need to answer. Do you want to be healed? Do you want to put pornography & lust behind you? While the answer might seem obvious, . . . is it?
Over the years, I’ve worked with a lot of people who say they want to ‘get better’ but really, they don’t. They just want to say they want to (you know people like this . . . you have them in your family tree).
Are you just saying you want to live a life free of pornography & lust?
After all, that’s what you know you should say.
Or do you really want to?
This question is important because it leads to the conversation of ‘WANT’ versus ‘HOW’. These studies can help you learn HOW to life an abundant, pornography & lust free life. But that doesn’t really matter unless you WANT to.
HOW is meaningless unless there’s a WANT. So, before you get too far in this journey, set your mind on the WANT. Be honest.
Do you WANT to be healed?
Or have you grown comfortable living absent of God’s optimal plan . . . satisfied with the excuses . . . okay with a broken towel rack?
Thoughts to Journal:
- Do you REALLY want to be free of pornography & lust? Why?
- What kind of ‘sheep gates’ have you been at, paralyzed due to your addiction?
- Why do you suppose Jesus instructed the man to take his mat with him?
Reading: