Luke
5: 17 One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and religion teachers were sitting
around. They had come from nearly every village in Galilee and Judea, even as
far away as Jerusalem, to be there. The healing power of God was on him. 18
Some men arrived carrying a paraplegic on a stretcher. They were looking for a
way to get into the house and set him before Jesus. 19 When they couldn't find
a way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof, removed some tiles,
and let him down in the middle of everyone, right in front of Jesus. 20 When
Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, I forgive your sins." 21 That
set the religion scholars and Pharisees buzzing. "Who does he think he is?
That's blasphemous talk! God and only God can forgive sins." 22 Jesus knew
exactly what they were thinking and said, "Why all this gossipy
whispering? 23 Which is simpler: to say 'I forgive your sins,' or to say 'Get
up and start walking'? 24 Well, just so it's clear that I'm the Son of Man and
authorized to do either, or both...." He now spoke directly to the
paraplegic: "Get up. Take your bedroll and go home." 25 Without a
moment's hesitation, he did it-- got up, took his blanket, and left for home,
giving glory to God all the way. 26 The people rubbed their eyes, incredulous--
and then also gave glory to God. Awestruck, they said, "We've never seen
anything like that!"
Food
for Thought!
Who
said faith is not visible? It is. The gospel says that “When Jesus saw their
faith”, when he saw the eager faith of those who stopped at nothing to bring
their friend to his cure, he acted. It still happens.
Great
works are performed not by strength alone but by faith too. Faith is stronger
than strength. You can do more things with faith than with physical strength.
But when you add strength to faith to purpose or goal, you turn the impossible
possible. You have to join the two because faith without works is dead; and
works without faith are also dead.
God
created us all with a purpose. I hope you know your purpose in life. If not,
find your purpose of life, by asking these questions: Why are you living? Why
did God make you? When you find you purpose in life, something you want to
achieve or be before you leave this life, then throw into it your strength of
mind, your faith, and it will be achieved.
Consider
the postage stamp. It's strength consists in the ability to stick to one
envelop till it gets to its destination; we too can do anything we want to do,
if we stick to it long enough. So know what you want to achieve in YOUR life
and press on. Learn from the weather; it pays no attention to criticism; it
will never change because people are complaining. In other words, don't let
other people discourage you in your resolve; don't give up on your resolution;
don't yield until you get to Jesus.
Like
the people in the gospel reading of today, the people who succeed in life are
the people who dream and start working on their dream until they realize it.
The important things in the world have been accomplished by people who kept on
trying when there seemed to be no hope at all. People's criticism is part of
the story; don't be upset by what the people say to discourage you; they are by
and large like you.
God
helps those who help themselves. As the Psalm puts it: Faithfulness and Mercy
have met (Psalm 85). Miracles happens when our faithfulness, our struggle, our
determination, our faith meets the mercy of the Lord. This is what happened in
the gospel reading of today: when Jesus saw their faith in action, their
determination, their resolve, he said to the sick man, your sins are forgiven
you.
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