Years fly by when you're happy and healthy. But thirty-eight years of disease? That must have crawled past like centuries for the paralyzed man. So when Jesus healed him with a single word at the pool of Bethesda, the man felt the change instantly. Wonderfully. Completely.

It's the same with sinners who have been paralyzed by despair for weeks, months, even years, who have cried out for salvation until their voices are hoarse. When the Lord Jesus finally speaks that word of power and floods the heart with joy and peace, you know it. The evil that's removed is too massive to miss. The life that rushes in is too explosive to ignore. The transformation is too radical not to feel in every fiber of your being.

And yet... this man had no idea who had healed him. He didn't know the sacredness of Christ's person. He didn't grasp the offices Jesus held or the mission that brought him to earth. Here's the truth that should comfort many of you: hearts can be flooded with the power of Christ's blood while still being ignorant of much about Christ himself.

We must not be quick to condemn people for what they don't yet understand. Where we see the faith that saves the soul, we must believe that salvation has taken place. Listen: the Holy Spirit makes sinners into penitent believers long before he makes them into theologians. The one who believes what little he knows will soon know more about what he believes.

But make no mistake—ignorance is dangerous. This poor man was tormented by the Pharisees and couldn't defend himself. He had no answers for their accusations. It's good to be able to answer those who attack your faith, but you cannot do it if you don't know the Lord Jesus clearly, deeply, with real understanding.

The beautiful part? The cure of his ignorance came right after the cure of his body. Jesus found him in the temple and revealed himself. And after that encounter, the man went everywhere testifying, "It was Jesus who made me whole!"

Lord, if you have saved me, reveal yourself to me more fully, that I may declare you boldly to everyone I meet.