Before Jesus healed the man at the Pool of Bethesda, He asked him a surprising question: “Do you want to get well?” (John 5:6)

At first glance, the question almost feels unnecessary. Of course he wanted to be healed. He had been unable to walk for thirty-eight years. Yet Jesus wasn’t simply asking whether he wanted functioning legs. He was asking whether he was ready for an entirely different life.

The problem is that some of life’s biggest decisions cannot be fully evaluated beforehand because they fundamentally change who we become.

The philosopher L. A. Paul calls these transformative choices. They are decisions that reshape our identity so completely that our future self sees the world differently than our present self. Marriage changes you. Becoming a parent changes you. Moving across the country changes you. Answering God’s call into ministry changes you. Even if someone could describe those experiences perfectly, you still wouldn’t know what they are truly like until you lived them.

As Paul observes, you simply cannot know in advance who you will become on the other side of the decision.

The same is true of discipleship. When Jesus told the invalid, “Get up, pick up your mat and walk,” He wasn’t merely asking him to stand. He was inviting him into a completely different existence. 

For thirty-eight years, this man had built his life around that pool. His daily routine, his expectations, even his disappointments revolved around waiting for the water to stir. The pool had become more than a place; it had become his strategy for life.

Jesus never helped him into the pool. Instead, He called him away from it.

The difficulty is that surrender always feels risky because we cannot see who we will become on the other side of obedience.

We want certainty before we surrender. We want to make sure that God’s plan either equals or exceeds our expectations before we agree to follow Him. But Jesus says we must deny ourselves, pick up our crosses and follow Him. He asks for surrender before certainty.

The foundation of our trust is not that we know exactly where God is leading, but that we know the One who is leading us.

That is the invitation of discipleship: Not to know every turn in the road, but to hand over the keys.

Perhaps that is where many of us find ourselves today. We are standing at one of those transformative choices. And we just need to follow Jesus commands – Get up, pick up the old ratty mat we have been laying on, and just walk.

Take one step, and then another, and allow him to order your steps.