John Chapter Five

As I read today I immediately thought of a song by Avril Lavigne, "Complicated". In my head repeating over and over again, "Why do you have to go and make things so complicated?" Weird I know, how could God be speaking to me through a song by Avril Lavigne as I'm reading John 5. I'm not quite sure how that works but it made a huge impression.

In the beginning of the chapter there is this man lying by the "magical" pool in Bethesda. He's been trying for years to be healed, but you have to be the first one in and he never makes it. Then this stranger, Jesus, comes up to him and simply asks, "Wilt thou be made whole?" This man immediately gives this huge long reason as to why he can't be made whole.

Sounds exactly like something I would do. Something can be so simple, and yet I make it so complicated. I have to have a plan. I need to know what's going to happen and what is the cause that leads to the effect I want. I lay it all out and follow the little map I have for myself and accomplish my goal. But does life really have to be this complicated? More than that, is my spiritual life, my relationship with God supposed to be that complicated?

If I were that man I would have expected Jesus to give me a plan about how I was going to walk. I would have needed some explanation about what was wrong with me and how it was going to be fixed. But, Jesus, simply tells the man, "Take up thy bed, and walk." There's no plan, no explanation, just get up and do it. Simple. And he does.

Connecting with Christ is supposed to be that simple. And yet it isn't because we've made it so complicated. You have to do this and that in order to walk with Christ. What I see is something totally different. When Jesus asks us, will we be made whole, why not just say "YES" instead of coming up with all the reasons why we can't. Second, when we do say yes, there is no process. There isn't this long list of things to be done, you just jump in and you're whole. Look at the man, he didn't have to learn to walk all over again. He just got up and walked. 

From this I get: I've got to stop questioning, wondering, and creating plans. I have to know that I am with Christ. He said if you search you will find and so I must hold on to that and know that he's not going to forsake me. Even when it feels like he's not there and not around, he made a promise I know he will keep it.