1733 Friends, Faith & Forgiveness

BIG Life Devotional | Daily Devotional for Women

Mark 2: 1-12, “When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”
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!”
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[a] has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”
And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!”

There are 3 powerful things we learn from this encounter with Jesus, and 1 thing we’re going to unlearn.

1. You’ve heard it before, but I’m going to say it again, YOUR FRIENDS MATTER.

Your friends are either part of your solution, or they’re part of your problem. Look around, are they bringing you closer to Jesus or taking you further away?

This man had no way of getting to Jesus that day. He was paralyzed, unable to walk, and because the crowd had packed the house to hear Jesus, he couldn’t even lay outside of the door to overhear a word. But his friends weren’t leaving him without access to Jesus. What did they do? They crawled up on the roof, hoisted the man on a stretcher up with them, tore off the roof, and used ropes to lower him down right in front of Jesus.

There wasn’t a sign that said “DO NOT TEAR THIS ROOF OFF”, so it became a viable option for their wild faith. They were looking for a solution. The solution was the roof wasn’t crowded and they knew how to climb. When you’re looking for a solution, you will find one. When you’re looking for an excuse, you’ll find that much easier.

Are you and your friends spending all your time complaining about everything that is wrong and all that is in the way? Or are you and your friends actively pursuing a way through this? I have no desire to sit at the table of those who have a negative opinion about the details. But put me at a table with positive minded people who are willing to climb and willing to tear a roof off, and I want to be your friend!

How about we FIND A WAY to get to Jesus today! How about we FIND A WAY to take a positive next step towards a solution. Let’s not sit here stuck in discouragement. Someone bring a ladder!

Do you have a climbing friend? A friend who won’t let you stay low? A friend who doesn’t buy your excuses for sitting it out? A friend who will drag your butt up out of this mess and lift you up higher? They will call you, text you, encourage you, pray over you, and show up with a ladder and a rope. Tell that friend how important they are to you. Maybe they need to know you appreciate them. Maybe they need you to climb for them today.

And if you don’t have that kind of friend, start praying for one. Here’s what I know for sure – those climbing friends need climbing friends too because they’ve been doing a lot of lifting lately. Tear off a roof for them and you’ll see they will tear off a roof for you too.

2. Faith is Visible.

I’ve always heard faith is unseen, but it’s not. Faith is a belief in the unseen, but faith itself is very visible. Verse 5 says Jesus SAW THEIR FAITH.

Can Jesus see your faith today? Faith has you showing up when you don’t feel like showing up. Faith has you pushing through when you didn’t think you had any push left in you. Faith has you filled with peace when it makes no sense to have peace. Faith has you speaking positive when you’re surrounded by negative. Faith has you praising God for what is possible when everyone says its impossible.

Jesus wants to SEE YOUR FAITH today.

It takes no faith to play little, shrink back, be pitiful, and wait for someone else to do something. It takes no faith to be angry, be in a bad mood, and sit there and sulk. It takes no faith to sit there on your phone again today, scrolling in your misery, growing in hopelessness.

Jesus says, GIRL, SHOW ME YOUR FAITH! I want to SEE you do something different because you BELIEVE I’m in this with you.

The paralyzed man and his friends didn’t say a word. They didn’t quote from the scrolls or pray a specific prayer. Nope, they climbed on top of a house and they tore a roof off. Jesus saw this and he was moved to action in response to their faith.

The house owner was probably highly upset about the hole in his roof. The others who had gotten there first and crowded inside the house were probably inconvenienced by their interruption. But Jesus saw FAITH, because faith can be seen. Faith takes action. Faith does something. Faith overcomes excuses and finds a way. Faith pushes through, faith climbs up, faith starts digging, faith ties a rope.

Do you really believe Jesus has the power to help you? Do you believe he is the answer for your problem? I believe he is too. Now, put your faith in action today and do something!

I don’t see a “Do Not Tear The Roof Off” sign here, so girl, go for it!

Now, before we go to the 3rd lesson to learn from this encounter, we must pause and unlearn one. There’s confusion about why Jesus would look at this paralyzed man who has been lowered down to him through the roof and say, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” It’s natural to assume maybe his physical condition is a result of his sins, so first Jesus forgives his sins so he can then heal him physically. Was he being punished for his wrongdoing?

At 19 years old, I had a massive stroke. A blood clot was lodged in my brain stem for 8 hours, and I lost the ability to walk and talk. Only by the grace of God did I survive, and only by the his miraculous touch did I recover. Once I was well enough to return to work, on my first day back, a good intentioned man named Chip came up to me in the office and he said, “Pamela, have you addressed your sin that caused this stroke?”

I was so ashamed. Something I had done had caused this? And now everyone knew there was something so wrong and so shameful in my life because of my suffering. The only problem was, I had no idea what this sin could have been. So, for the next several years, I lived in fear. Fear that this unknown sin in my life would cause me to have another stroke.

I desperately needed someone to tell me the truth. I hid in shame and ran from God in fear, refusing to tell anyone about my stroke, convinced I had caused it. Now, I know the truth, so I’m speaking it loud and clear … I was not being punished, this paralyzed man was not being punished, and neither are you.

God is not against you. He loves you and you have absolutely no reason to fear him.

This man was seeking healing, and forgiveness of sin is the greatest healing of all. First, Jesus healed him spiritually through the forgiveness of his sins, then he healed him physically giving him the miraculous ability to walk.

3. Forgiveness is the greatest miracle Jesus ever performs.

Doctors can offer healing. Medication and treatment can offer healing. But only Jesus can offer forgiveness. The price is the highest price of all, it cost him his life, and he freely offered it to you so you could be forgiven.

Think about this, you have already received the greatest miracle of all! Greater than healing from cancer, greater than lame legs made to walk, greater than blind eyes seeing … you have been made whole, clean, and righteous. You have been fully redeemed from everything you have ever done wrong. Every sin has been forgiven. But not only forgiven, my sister, it has been removed from you.

Psalm 103:12, “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” Do you have any idea how far the east is from the west? They are so far apart, they will never ever meet again. If you travel North far enough, you eventually travel South because our planet has a marker for the farthest point North and the farthest point South. But East and West have no marker. You can travel East forever, round and round and there’s still more east always in front of you. East never meets West and West never meets East.

And that is you and your sin … they shall never meet again. Jesus has done his greatest miracle of all in forgiving you and removing your sins to NEVER be yours again.

When you realize you are the direct recipient of the greatest miracle Jesus has ever performed, it makes you wake up different! Never diminish or dismiss the tremendous price that was paid, and the eternal impact his forgiveness has made for you.

Fully forgiven, undeniably redeemed … that’s you! Oh, and yes, he heals too!

Remember this, your friends matter, Jesus is looking for your faith in action, and you’re forgiven!

Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela
Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim
Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com