Daily Devotional for Monday, September 4

Borne of Four

“And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee,” Mark 2:4, 5.

We all have that friend who we can always call. That is the one who will always be there, no matter the need. This is the friend who will not even ask what the need is, but he will just come. The man in our story had friends like that. He was sick with some sort of paralysis, likely for years. His friends knew Jesus could heal their friend. The problem was, there was no room in the house for them. So they cut through the roof and let their friend down to Jesus from above. They were those kind of friends!

This passage is often taught from that standpoint, as a lesson about true friendship and the lengths one will go to help a friend. While that does apply, there is a more important lesson here. The lesson is really about what happened in this event. Jesus showed us all what matters, and what His real mission was during His earthly ministry. The first thing Jesus did was offer this man forgiveness for his sin. When the Pharisees and scribes became upset, Jesus explained it to them. His physical healing was only to show that He had the power of God to offer forgiveness. His physical healing offered His divine credentials for His soul healing. 

You may be doing a lot of stuff in service to Jesus. But in the end, we have only one mission, to go into all the world, spread the gospel and make disciples who will do the same thing.

JUST A THOUGHT: Everything we do as Christians should ultimately be toward the goal of 
spreading the gospel.

Wally Fry