All in good time…

“Someone else always gets there ahead of me.” (John 5:7 NLT)

Do you ever feel that way about your life? As you survey a land of instant billionaires (think Instagram), it’s easy to conclude that life favors the “someone else’s.” The next mental parking place is the reserved spot for the “if only’s.”

“If only I had…”

You can hear it in this man’s voice in The New Testament book of John as well.

If only I had someone “to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up.” (John 5:7)

We join the majority of humanity when we wallow in the if only’s. We gaze at the Someone Else’s whose ship has come in, and we long for a someone to notice us, to intercede, to step in, to help, give us a break.

To the exceedingly great joy of anyone who sits on the sidelines while others get in front of us, there is a great news.

It’s all about timing, my friend.

The interesting thing about this passage of scripture is that the man who was longing was also lame. He’d been so for 38 years. He was a professional lamer. Some of your friends who are lame are amateurs. ;) This guy was the real deal.

He had his hopes on the pool of Bethesda, which some accounts of scripture say occasionally provided moments of dramatic healing. When the water began to bubble, the first one in would be healed. Tough for a lame guy to win a race to the water. And so he sat, wallowing in the if only’s.

Then Jesus came along. Good timing. Jesus did two things. First of all, He healed the guy by speaking to him.

Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” (John 5:8 NLT)

Jesus also redirected the man’s focus from others and even from the supposed source of his future healing. It wasn’t about what others received. It wasn’t about the pool. If this man was to be healed, he must quit looking at the fortune (or misfortune) of others, and he must give up on the pool.

He needed to see in Jesus the Source of his healing. The day had come. It was his time! It just came in a Person and way that he never dreamed.

Think on that if you’re consumed with the someone else’s of life today. God knows your need, and He loves you intimately. Quit looking at others and for solutions in life that are temporary.

The years you’ve spent wallowing may be close to an end. It’s time, like the lame man, to get ready to dance.

On this day...

• Highlights from UAM BCM 2001 - 2009
• A church move - 2007