Long devotion share:

I think sometimes I have gotten so familiar with some passages in the Bible, that I can read it over and over again without seeing something new. It can be difficult for me not to skim. I bring this up because I consider the Gospels fairly familiar, and recently I was reading Luke one of his books that has Bible stories in it and I came across something new. Now, not "new" obviously, but something I don't ever remember reflecting on. This isn't necessary a failing on my part, but more a testament to God's Word always being relevant and alive and having such depths to it that we can never be in It enough! That God is always showing us something, sometimes familiar, and sometimes "new"! How amazing.

Well, so the story is found in Luke 5:17-26. Jesus has just begun his earthly ministry, he has been healing and teaching and casting out demons, and just recently called some of his first disciples. The priests are getting interested in Him and were present with a multitude of other people; and Jesus was teaching.
Four men (as it more specifically states in Mark 2:1-13) were bringing their paralyzed friend to Jesus to be healed. They knew that if they could just get their friend to Jesus, He would heal him. In the story that is just a fact. And they were doing their best to make that happen! They set their paralyzed friend on a pallet and carried him to where Jesus was, but they couldn't get in! Not even close, not even to the doorway of the building where Jesus was inside teaching! But these men loved their friend, and believed in Jesus enough that they just had to get their friend to Him. These guys were admirable, they didn't stop there, they thought outside the box! They got their friend, on his stretcher/pallet, onto the roof, pulled up the roof tiles (carefully-no one is mentioned getting hurt by fallen depris!) and looked down on Jesus. But that wasn't all! They were ready for what they planned to do next- they lowered their friend on his pallet down through the roof! Directly in the center of the room, right in front of Jesus! Talk about mission impossible! And these guys did it!
As they looked down through the hole in the ceiling they had just made at their friend, lying before Jesus, they could do no more. They knew that they had done all they could-they set him before Jesus-in full faith that Jesus could heal him. And you know what? He didn't...well, not at first--> Luke 5:20 says, "And seeing their faith, He said, 'Friend, your sins are forgiven you'." That was the heart of the matter with Jesus. Jesus could've just healed him and sent him on his way, but Jesus came to save the world, not just put band-aids on it. What would just healing this man have done? Given him a better life, but eternally-nothing. So Jesus forgives his sins.
Now the Pharisees and scribes and all those people start grumbling...its blasphemy to say that-Jesus is saying He is God, because only God can forgive sins. Jesus knows they are thinking this and He asks them, "Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins have forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'? And then in order to prove that He had the authority to forgive sins, He healed the man. And the man was healed! He got up, stronger now too because he picked up his own bed, and he left glorifying God. So awesome. Well, everyone there was pretty amazed too, they all began glorifying God as well, and did Jesus have people following Him after that! Wow.

One of the "new" things I saw was the amazing friends this guy had. They believed in Jesus, and knew that He could heal their friend. They did all they could do to get their friend in front of Jesus, because only then could the healing take place. They worked together, they made a plan, they put thought into this(they made their friend a mobile bed, and made sure there were enough of them to carry it)! But then when that plan wouldn't work all the way(they couldn't get in to see Jesus because of the crowd) , they tweaked it-they looked for a better solution-they thought outside the box (the roof!). But they took this plan and also thought it through-they were careful and prepared(carefully removing the ceiling tiles, and having the rope ready to lower their friend down) . Then, when they had done all they could do, they had faith that Jesus would do the rest, they just waited and trusted. The Bible says that because of their faith, the man's sins were forgiven. Here I notice that these guys maybe didn't get the response from Jesus they were hoping for...forgiven? But we brought him to You to be healed...? Isn't that how it is in our lives? We come before the Lord with what we want, knowing He can provide that for us, but sometimes He doesn't give that to us-sometimes He gives us the better thing that we didn't even know we needed, and then as a bonus He also throws in that other thing we wanted too?! We don't know the condition of this man before he was healed, we know he was paralyzed, but we don't know how badly, or even if he had faith that Jesus could heal him, but we do know his condition after his healing! He left giving Glory to God. And a big part of that was because of his friends.

I guess I come away from that wondering...am a friend like that? When I have a friend who is perhaps unsaved, or hurting-in need of the healing Jesus can bring, am I like these 4 men? Do I do my best to bring them before the Lord? Do I help them when and where I can? Do I go about it purposefully? Do I think outside the box when some of my initial 'plans' or my first trys don't get anywhere? Because of my faith (and prayers), will something amazing happen in the life of someone I love? Will I be a part of something lifechanging in one of my friends' lives? Finally, do I place that person before the Lord in total faith that He can heal my friend? How He sees fit? Great questions. Very challenging to myself.

....and soo....I thought I would share. I hope that you are challenged as well! Thank you for reading.
Love you all, my friends.