Jesus was teaching inside a house, and the crowd was so thick that
some people couldn't get their paralyzed friend to Jesus. They knew
that if they could just get him to Jesus... So they climbed the roof,
dug a hole through, and lowered their paralyzed friend right down in
front of Jesus. I mean, it's obvious that he's paralyzed, so they are
waiting in anticipation... Jesus looked each of them straight in the
eye, and then He said, "My child, your sins are forgiven."
Maybe they thought something like this, "That's great, Jesus. Thanks.
But I don't know if you noticed that this man is PARALYZED! Can you
do something about that?"
I think sometimes I think I know what someone's "real" need is. But
Jesus saw the deep spiritual need. The man was spiritually paralyzed
with sin, so Jesus healed him. I think I often take for granted how
powerful it is to be forgiven of my sins so that I can enjoy
fellowship with God.
I want to respond to Christ's call to follow Him like Levi did. He
didn't come up with some elaborate scheme to evangelize, nor did he
beat people over the head with the Torah - he simply invited people
over to his house to hang out with him and Jesus. I hope that the
homegroup that we started a couple of weeks ago is like that. I hope
we hang out with Jesus so that people can see His love through us and
respond by following Him.
Heavenly Father, thank you for forgiving my sins through Christ's
sacrifice. Jesus, thank you for healing me spiritually so that I can
walk with you. Holy Spirit, please help me be a witness for Christ
today: I pray that I will be salty and bright. I love you. Please
fill me with the joy and peace of your love. I ask in the name of
Jesus Christ. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment