September 8 Visible Faith

Luke 5:18-20 Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
 
THE man couldn’t walk, but the Lord could see his faith. So sure was he of Jesus’ healing power, he must have insisted the men who carried him dig through the roof and lower him to the floor. The man’s helpers worked hard and even broke property and etiquette rules as they broke open a roof to be at the head of the line at Jesus’ feet.
    Scripture tells of others breaking rules to go faithfully – perhaps desperately – to Jesus. On is the leper we read of a few days ago in Luke 5:12-14. He broke God’s law on the behavior of those so infected: Leviticus 13:45-46 “The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out. ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ 46 As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp. Consider, also, the woman who bled for 12 years (Luke 8), touching the Master’s cloak seeking his healing. Jesus felt his power go out from him, even as he did not intentionally point to her and say, “Be healed.” In these cases, did God reward bad manners or deep faith?
    The Bible tells us that faith is the key to unlocking sin’s crippling effects on these three. Read Luke’s account above, “When Jesus saw their faith.” he forgave the man’s sins. Then see Jesus’ response to the woman in Luke 8:48 Then he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace." Furthermore, as we saw in the leper’s prayer a few days ago, he believed in Jesus’ power to heal as God’s will. Faith is fundamental to healing. It must be present in our hearts for Jesus to act.
    These physical healings were done to demonstrate the way God heals us from sin’s condemnation into eternal life. We cannot be born again into the Kingdom of God unless we have faith that Jesus is Savior, Son of God. We must believe the Holy God has the power to forgive sins and to restore our sin-dead souls to everlasting glory.
    How did the three healed, forgiven people and all saved in Jesus come to have such faith? Is this something that we can bring into our own lives on our abilities? The wondrous answer is: Faith is God’s gift to you. If you believe in God the Father, Son and Spirit, the Bible declares in many places that your faith is not self-generated, but it is God’s gracious gift to you. For example, Paul writes in Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.  
    The physical healings and declarations of forgiveness that Jesus ministered in his human form were demonstrations of his eternal salvation to heal us from sin’s death. God put faith in the cripple and his helpers, the bleeding woman and the leper – and many others. There was nothing they had done to earn such healings. Instead, God graciously gave to them a life-transforming gift. With their faith gift in their heart, they went to the Lord of life. They trusted he could make them well.
    How about you? Has God given to you a faith to seek his healing and forgiveness? Do you readily show your faith with such words as “Jesus is my Lord and Savior; my sins are forgiven in him.” Do you volunteer, “Here, let me help you.” Or are you eager to faithfully intercede for people, “How can I pray for you?” Are you prone to faithfully share the gospel message, “May I tell you why I believe in Jesus?”
    Not all receive the faith gift. If you have, be sure to live it out. The Holy God has called you into a holy relationship with him. Sometimes we even have to break some cultural rules to say, “Jesus is Lord. He’s my Lord. My heart’s desire is to faithfully follow him.”  
 
Prayer: Father in Heaven, I believe in your power to heal my diseases and to forgive my sins. In your will I submit my life. In Jesus’ name, amen.