Read John 5:1–16
Jesus Heals the Man at Bethesda
Here we find that Jesus not only found time to go to the
Lord’s House on the Sabbath, but He also found time to help
those in need. The Spirit of God led Jesus into the synagogue on
the Lord’s day, and the Spirit also led Him to heal a man with
an infirmity. This is a beautiful picture of the character of
God.
How many of us feel like we have done our duty once we have
been to church on Sunday morning? Could it be that the Spirit of
God would also have a plan for us in the afternoon?
In verse 44, Jesus is quoted as saying, "How can ye
believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the
honour that cometh from God only?" Jesus could have
gained honor from the Pharisees just by attending the Sabbath
services. However, He was seeking to please God only.
As a Christian, it can become easy to please other Christians
around us by our good outward behavior. Man may be pleased by
spiritual words, appearances and actions, but God looks at the
attitude of the heart to see if we are following His Spirit
everywhere He wants us to go.
We must always have our heart turned heavenward for God’s
direction if we want to be in such a condition that our prayers
can be answered. The Spirit may lead us to go to our room to
read the Word, or to visit our grandmother, or to tell our
mother how much we appreciate her. The Spirit could just as
easily tell us that we have pride in our hearts that needs to be
confessed or that we need a better attitude about our homework.
The Spirit of the Living God wants to speak to you. Are you
listening?
