TEARING DOWN THE ROOF! PROVERBS 18:24 A man with many friends may be harmed, but there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. We do not know what happened, because the bible says nothing about it. All we know is that the man was paralysed and he needed to be healed. A part from that, we also know that he had friends who deeply cared about him and they were determined to see their friend set free. They must have heard that Jesus the healer was in town and they determined not to let this opportunity pass them by. The bible does not tell us much about the man and his friends and we do not know what happened to him for him to be paralysed. Maybe they used to hang out together a lot and probably do business together then some injury happened to him. Or maybe they were strangers one to another but united with the desire to see another human being get a better life just like the good Samaritan. Their actions are what amaze me. Here is what they did. Luke 5:18-19 Some men came carrying a paralysed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 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.. One thing is for sure, they were determined to see their friend healed and they were not taking no for an answer! Considering the surging crowd, can you imagine the amount of work it took to get the man on a stretcher on the roof? Aside from all the work, the place was jam parked with people, can you imagine the comments and sneers they got from the crowd? There must have been a lot of commotion, but they would not let anything stop them. They went through all that trouble not for themselves, but for another. The man was not only healed, his sins were also forgiven. In today’s age it is everybody for himself and God for us all. We are so self centred and we always have an excuse as to why we cannot help someone else unless there is something in it for me. We are all paralysed in an area in our life and things are not functioning the way they are supposed to. When was the last time you and I choose to put aside our needs and issues so that we could make sure that a friend or even stranger was healed from the paralysis. I am sure the men who brought the paralysed man had issues in their lives but on this occasion they choose to put them aside and focus their energy and resources to help someone else. Would you be willing to carry a friend on a stretcher (by the way we have no idea how far they walked) and when you meet a road block instead of giving up, you look for alternative ways to solve their problem? Would you and I be willing to take out the roof not being distracted by the comments that others make, carry the man up the roof and lower him where he needs to be for him to get his healing? At what cost would we go to, to make sure that we bring a friend before Jesus? There is a friend who is so selfless and compassionate that they stick closer than a brother. May I be found to be that kind of a friend! PRACTICAL APPLICATION: So, what are you going to do about this?
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 03:05:18 +0000
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