KNOWING CHRIST

He that was healed wist not who it was.
John 5:13

When I first accepted Christ, I had no idea of the magnitude of the change that had begun in me. No one ever does. What started out as a prayer to be forgiven opened up another world that I didn’t now even existed. Christ Himself, the Creator of all things, had stepped into my life. It would be impossible to ever return to that “normal” life again. That’s how it was with the man at the pool of Bethesda. What started out as a wish and a prayer, turned into something quite different. That day the lame man was healed of his physical malady but something much greater began in his heart. Christ had unlocked that hidden, unseen world to him, an unexpected change had begun. Charles Spurgeon describes this man’s plight in his comments on today’s verse.

“Years are short to the happy and healthy; but thirty-eight years of disease must have dragged a very weary length along the life of the poor impotent man. When Jesus, therefore, healed him by a word, while he lay at the pool of Bethesda, he was delightfully sensible of a change. Even so the sinner who has for weeks and months been paralyzed with despair, and has wearily sighed for salvation, is very conscious of the change when the Lord Jesus speaks the word of power, and gives joy and peace in believing. The evil removed is too great to be removed without our discerning it; the life imparted is too remarkable to be possessed and remain inoperative; and the change wrought is too marvelous not to be perceived. Yet the poor man was ignorant of the author of his cure; he knew not the sacredness of his person, the offices which he sustained, or the errand which brought him among men. Much ignorance of Jesus may remain in hearts which yet feels the power of his bloodhound.”

You see, all of us were a lot more messed up than we realized. It wasn’t until the cure began deep within our soul that we began to realize the sorrowful condition that our souls were trapped in. Sin had taken its toll on all our lives, only when the solution called salvation began to settle in did we begin to understand the depth of our need. It was the greatness of His salvation that began to awaken us to the depth of our depravity. The firsts rays of His light began expose the depths to which we had fallen. The light of His glory also began to reveal the greatness of His salvation. His solution was greater than our need. The light had come, our long night was over. Maybe you haven’t yet realized just how great this Christ is. His love is greater than your hurt, His grace is bigger than your sin, His power is bigger than your need. Maybe you also had no idea how far sin had taken you, that’s okay, His mercy is more than enough for you.