Forgiveness of sins

 "But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, .. . I say unto thee, "arise", and take up thy bed, and go to thy house" Luke 2:10

What stands out in this story? First of all, the faith of this man's friends. So desperate were they to get him to Jesus, they literally tore the house down. Having made a hole in the roof, they let him down with ropes to where Jesus was. Second, the Pharisees, who presumably were in no need of healing, had secured the best seats in the house for themselves. They were making it difficult for those in need of healing to find Jesus. Third, Jesus forgave this man's sins before releasing him from his illness. This was a demonstration of His authority to forgive sins on earth.

Living here in the West, we might rarely be so desperate as his friends were. However, as I write this, the world is descending into chaos. We may soon find ourselves willing to do ANYTHING to get to Jesus. We will fight through the "good" people who will tell us that He is no longer in the miracle business. And when we get to Him, He will heal: first of all in the soul, then in the body. He makes "all things new". 

Reflections on healing

 "And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, 'If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean'". Mark 1:40

Healing has been a mystery for believers. The Scripture tells us to pray for the sick, and they will recover (James 5, Mark 16, etc.) But, honestly, most times, even if we pray, there does not seem to be any change. And we wonder what we are missing. Few would suppose that God is not ABLE to heal. The leper certainly did not. The question he asked, though, is perhaps the question we all have: Is God WILLING to heal? Here we must be careful. 

Indeed, if we know that God can heal, but sometimes does not, our hearts could easily slip into a judgement of a God who is capricious, healing some and leaving others to suffer. We might not voice this, but in our hearts we are asking many of the same questions Job did. But, like Job, we don't have the whole picture. 

"God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good" is a faith statement we may have heard in many church assemblies. This statement is verifiably true. The question, however, is "Do we believe it?". When faced with an illness that we know He can heal, but see only sickness remaining, what happens to our faith? Do we shrink back into sorrow, or jump forward into praise? By faith we KNOW that everything God does, and does NOT do, is good. We see only "through a glass, darkly" and know only "in part". The eternal reward beyond our suffering, which is always God's goal, is hidden to our natural eyes. 

We ask for healing, but more important, we ask for the Kingdom to come, and His will to be done. This is what Jesus prays at Gethsemane, and this is what He has taught us to pray at our own hour of trial. We confess that God IS good, ALL the time. We cannot be assured He will deliver us FROM our illness, but we can be certain He will be with us THROUGH this difficult time. In the end, says Paul, we will understand all. We will look back to our trial on earth, and know that it was all worth it. By faith, we consider it "all a joy" with James when we are tested, because of the eternal fruit produced during this time. Thus, it is a joy for us to commit our illness, or any other trial, into His hands.