And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."  (Mark 2:1-5 ESV)

In this paragraph of Scripture, we see four friends of a paralytic believe in health equality for all.  Their friend can’t walk and they desire that he can walk like they do.  This desire compels them to go out of their way to make sure this friend gets to Jesus because they see through Jesus’ actions health equality.  So they believe the message that Christ is preaching – the Kingdom is at hand, repent and believe.  In their actions, Jesus see’s faith, but His next words are rather starting as he looks at the man on the mat and says “your sins are forgiven”.  Jesus knows that the greatest need in this man’s life is the forgiveness of sins that follows repentance and belief.  Jesus takes care of this greatest need and as God Himself, He forgives sins.

Beloved, our greatest need in life is the forgiveness of sin and only God can do that in our life.  We can not do it, the church can not do it, denominations can not do it, church leadership can not do it and people can not do it.  Only God can forgive sins as we repent and believe in Christ and His message acknowledging that He is ruling over His Kingdom that we desire to be participants in.  1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (ESV)”

More to come tomorrow...  Your comments are encouraged!

Know that you are loved,
gaj