The Mediocre Reality
When giving my kids chores or instilling healthy practices, my kids start with groans sometimes or with deep silence. Ignoring their response and speaking directly to their desires that are beyond the work that is required, we keep practicing the disciplines. Sometimes they ask, “when will this be over?” They hope for an end to the experience of the work yet I seldom hear this question as they enjoy the reward that follows the work.
Groaning and questioning is not a wasted experience but it can be a hindrance to gaining the benefit of the experience. Allowing the frustration, confusion, fear, etc. to escape through the process of questioning, analysis, and groaning is truly understandable. Yet remaining in the experience of it leads to the inquiry of why make that state a place of comfort?
In John 5:6, Jesus would ask the question, “Do you want to be made whole?” Presumptuously, we may say “Of course!” or “What kind of question is that?” Pivot with me to consider the question from the constant and unbearable experience of groans, frustrations, fear, and confusion. In the reality that I have lived without wholeness so long that I don’t think I ever knew what it was or what it is supposed to be, this is a question that I may have never asked. We tend to ask for relief but not for wholeness. Seeking a break instead of breakthrough leaving the clothing and framing of the experience behind. Continual pain makes us short sighted and this leads us into hopelessness.
So rephrasing the first question, “In the mediocre reality that keeps up the groaning and question, is it preferred because you have remained there?” This is what Jesus posed to the man lying in mediocrity. The greatest breakthrough is on the other side of the greatest suffering. No one has suffered a crucifixion as Jesus did on the cross. Jesus’ death rendered a resurrection that provided resurrection to all who will believe. He took on the mediocrity of the flesh to endure the groans and questions to intentionally model what it means to leave it behind. And because he did, he has given us the how for our escape as well as the power to do so.
this is not the reality God has for us...
We’re in our seeking season as a ministry. We are looking at our journey to this point in our life and preparing our hearts for what the next leg of our faith journey will impart to us. And for every place that we are uncovering a complacency of an old mindset, belief, or manner; here is Jesus' question to us. We convene annually to gather at the feet of Jesus embracing healing of our souls for the prospering of our lives. And if we travel from our homes, spend our resources, and feign the appearance of thirst just to lie at the pool, then all of this effort is a waste. Yet it is not a waste of the material of what can be seen with the natural eye. The man in John Chapter 5 had a bed, a regular spot to chill by the pool, and he had some friends that were in the same place with him. Yet what he was wasting was his soul - his mind, his will, and his emotions were elsewhere leaving his spirit abandoned within him. Without Christ coming to challenge his usual, the real waste through God’s eyes was his identity, testimony, and future impact.
Christ knew his inner conversation which required the right question. This man was looking for the stirring of the pool for relief and Christ was looking for the stirring of the heart to make whole. Every person attending this annual conference has a desire that is beyond what can be conveyed to another person in words. In the text, the man never answered the question yet Christ answered the man directly. Our identities, testimonies, and future impact are beyond the mediocre reality that we have settled for. And our charge is praying that we all be ready to receive the direct answer to the root matter that causes us to breakthrough! Are you ready to be made whole?
Pastor Ceci