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John 5:3-9

3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. 5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?" 7 The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me." 8 Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk." 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.

This Sunday at the church I go to, we are going through the book of John. Today's devotional verses were part of the scriptures we were studying this week.
One thing I noted when we first started to read this is that this man had a certain infirmity, which means a weakness, disease or sickness. As we read on we find out that the man could not walk so the disease had affected his legs.
But the interesting thing is, he had this for infirmity for 38 years, and you will notice that the scripture says that there was a multitude of people there, all with one sort or another sickness or disease.
Out of this multitude of people, Jesus comes up to this one man and asks him if he wants to be healed, with the man giving an excuse for why he wasn't. At that Jesus stops any further conversation and heals him.
Scripture says nothing about the man's faith to be healed or that the man had to do anything. Jesus just had compassion on him and healed him. This is something to think about next time someone says you don't have enough faith to be healed.

But that's not what I am getting to. I noticed as I read on it says nothing about any other being healed by Jesus.
It's not that Jesus didn't want to, but this man had been there for 38 years, and he probably knew most of the people there and they probably knew him too.
But even though any other person there could have been healed by Jesus, it seems they were so focused on the water and waiting for it to move so they could rush in to be healed, that they didn't even notice that the healer was right there in their midst, and the healer was Jesus.

It made me think of the world and those who are lost. When they stand before God on the Day of Judgment, they will try to say, "I never knew about Jesus. I never saw Him."
I believe that everyone has seen Jesus, not physically as his disciples did, but every time they saw a Christian they saw Jesus.
But they were so focused on the things of the world, that they never paid attention to Jesus and the work He was doing around them.
What about Christmas or Easter? People know that Christmas is the day we celebrate Jesus' birth, they knew Him when they wanted the day off or they wanted all those presents. They knew Him when they sung the Christmas carols also.
Easter, they know we celebrate Jesus' resurrection from the dead. How many Easter Sunday's have they gone to church and heard the message of salvation?

If this is you, you have no excuse other then you choose to reject God's Son Jesus Christ.

But you don't have to any longer. Today you can stop making excuses and accept the one who died for your sins, Jesus Christ!

Just pray this prayer from your heart and believe it and you will no longer need any more excuses.

Jesus, I admit I am a sinner and I have been making excuses all my life not to look to you for salvation. But this day I ask You to please forgive me for my sins. I believe you are the Son of God and You died for me on the cross and rose from the dead. Now please fill me with Your Holy Spirit, and may I share You with other, so that they will no longer have an excuse either. Thank You Jesus. I ask this in Your name Jesus. Amen!

If you just prayed this prayer and believed it in your heart, you are now a Christian. Welcome to the family of God. I would encourage you to tell someone what you just did, read your bible everyday starting in the book of John and find a good Christian church to go to.
E-mail me with any questions or if you need help finding a church in your area.

Maybe you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and you think this doesn't apply to you.
What about those around you, I would hate to be in heaven with Jesus, and have one of my friends or family members look at me and say, "How come you never told me about Jesus?" before they were condemned to hell forever.

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