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Wants vs. Wishes

"Do you want to be made well?"¹

One medical doctor I read about claims that, of all the patients who come to him saying they need help, approximately 25 percent don't want to get well at all. Others just want sympathy. Some don't even want to live. About 50 percent want the doctor to fix them. They would rather he operate on their body, than they operate on their lifestyle. Only 20 to 25 percent accept responsibility for their own recovery and well-being.

A large Christian counseling organization did a mini-survey with their counselors. They came up with the same percentages. One quarter of their clients didn't want to get well. Approximately half expected the counselor to fix them. And only one out of four accepted responsibility for their recovery. The reality is that a counselor can't fix anybody. They can only help a person see what the cause of their difficulty is and guide them to work through and resolve it.

When it comes to being overweight, for example, many of us say we want to weigh less than we do. However, most of us don't eat anything we don't want to eat. Thus we get confused between a wish and a want. Unless we have a biological problem, many of us wish we weighed less but don't want to badly enough to do what it takes to lose weight.

Only when we truly want to overcome our problems and be made whole—and accept responsibility to do what we need to do to make it happen—will we. As Jesus asked, "Do you want to be made whole?"

Suggested Prayer; "Dear God, please give me the want and the will to be made whole, and with your help do what I need to do to in order to be made whole. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

1. John 5:6.

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