One of my favorite stories in the Bible can be found in both Luke Chapter 5 and Mark Chapter 2. The story tells of a man that had palsy. His friends knew that Jesus was close and they had such a belief that if they could get their friend to Jesus, he would be healed. They carried their friend to the house Jesus was in. The problem was the house that Jesus was in was packed, they could not get through. These men knew their friend could be helped and would not give up so they decided to hoist their friend to the roof of the house, dig a hole through the roof and lower him down so he could see Jesus. Are we as Christians doing everything we can to make sure our friends get to Jesus? Are we carrying them? Are we removing obstacles?
When Jesus first saw the man, He told him that his sins were forgiven. While the friends brought him to see Jesus to be healed from palsy, Jesus forgave the man’s sins instead. Sometimes we think we know what our friends need, but if we can just get them to Jesus they can get so much more.
There is a much deeper meaning to this story of why Jesus forgave the man’s sins first that I won’t get into in this week’s devotion. Eventually after forgiving the man’s sins, Jesus also healed the man from the palsy. Told him to get up and walk. Where are you friends leading you? Are they leading you to be healed? Would they remove obstacles to get you help?
I have been blessed with lifelong friends from school, I have been blessed with friendships developed through church, I have even blessed with friendships strengthened by working chains on Friday night. There is no doubt in my mind that these friends would pray for me if I asked them to, but I also know that these friends would love me enough to let me know when I’m not in God’s will and encourage me to get there.
That is what friendship is.
Challenge – Look at your friends, where are they leading you? Where are you leading them?
Congratulations to Meek Band of Champions to another Best-in-Class Performances at Coldwater Classic Band Competition.
Technical Issues – I know we have had some technical issues with devotions not posing correctly for past few weeks and hopefully we can get that corrected soon.
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