There was a certain man there who had suffered with a deep-seated and lingering disorder for thirty-eight years. When Jesus noticed him lying there [helpless], knowing that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, Do you want to become well? [Are you really in earnest about getting well?] —John 5:5-6

Isn’t this an amazing question for Jesus to ask this poor man who had been sick for 38 long years: “Do you want to become well?” That is the Lord’s question to you as you read these words right now. Do you know there are people who really don’t want to get well? They just want to talk about their problem. Are you one of those people?

Sometimes people get addicted to having a problem. It becomes their identity, their life. It defines everything they think and say and do. If you have a “deep-seated and lingering disorder,” the Lord wants you to know that it does not have to be the central focal point of your entire existence. He wants you to trust Him and cooperate with Him as He leads you to victory over that problem one step at a time. Don’t try to use your problem as a means of getting attention or sympathy.

When I used to complain to my husband, he would tell me, “Joyce, I’m not going to feel sorry for you, because if I do, you will never get over your problems.” That used to make me so mad I could have beaten him to a pulp. We get angry at those who tell us the truth. And the truth is that before we can get well, we must really want to be well—body, soul, and spirit. We must want to enough that we are willing to hear and accept truth.

Each of us must learn to follow God’s personal plan for us. Whatever our problem may be, God has promised to meet our need and to repay us for our loss. Facing truth is the key to unlocking prison doors that may have held us in bondage.