John 5:1-7
When Jesus asked the patient, who was ill for 38 years with a question, “Do you want to get well?”. His answer was quite interesting, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred”.

We do not know when he came to Bethesda and how long he had been there.
I just guess that he had been there for a long time so that he had become accustomed to everything in Bethesda, which caused him to have a fixed mindset.

What was the fixed mindset? It was that God’s divine healing could be done only by entering into the water when the water was stirred. That was the commonly shared knowledge in the community which shaped their faith and theology. He could not think what God could do outside the shared experience and knowledge in the community. That was why he answered to Jesus “There is no one who can help me into the pool” when the Lord of life stood in front of him and asked, “Do you want to get well?” The author of life stood before him and offered divine healing, but he was still looking at another human method to get cured. I wonder whether this reflects what goes on in your faith community.

It is important to understand our history and great legacy within our church or organisation, which helps us to have a commonly shared experience and knowledge. However, we should not limit what God can do for us with our fixed mindset whatever it is. Let us open our minds and hearts to understand better what God can do for us without limiting Him and His divine purpose for us.