Thursday, April 11, 2013 -- Admitting The Real Nature Of My Problem (1)

One day while Jesus was preaching God’s word, four men arrived at the house where Jesus was, carrying a paralyzed man on a mat.  They couldn’t get through the crowds to Jesus, so they dug a hole through the roof above Jesus' head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus.  (Summarized from Mark 2)

There are all sorts of reasons why people come to Jesus.  Desperation is often involved.  Someone else’s positive experience certainly points the way.  These four men knew something about the desperate state of their friend and were willing to do whatever it took to bring him into the presence of Jesus.  There comes a point in our life when there’s no turning back.  There’s only a going forward no matter what the obstacles.  People and circumstances are a normal part of recovery and the healing journey.  There is a way through and Jesus is always ready and waiting.

Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:5 NLT)

Living as though we don’t need God makes many of us sick.  Jesus wants to truly heal us from the inside out and do exactly what is needed so we never have to be sick again. We have our own ideas about why we are in the condition we find ourselves in.  We would do well to ask Jesus to speak to us about the real nature of our problem.  He often has something deeper, something more important to give us than what we determined we needed.  It will often surprise us and might even offend us but it is exactly what we need.

But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, “What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”  (Mark 2:6-7 NLT)

Even though these religious leaders thought they were smarter than Jesus because of their training and the opinions of others around them, they actually only had part of the truth.  Only God can forgive sins.  Jesus was God.  We often need “more truth” than the partial truth that we know.  We need Jesus to be our Higher Power and show us the way to real life, real relationship and real forgiveness for our sins.  Only Jesus can forgive us and give us what we need.

Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts?  Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’?  So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” (Mark 2:8-10 NLT)