Seeing

“Seeing their faith He said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven you.’” (Luke 5:20)

The second part of the verse above is the one that created some trouble for Jesus. It created no little stir among His observers who asked in their own minds, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” The “B” word began to float around the room (“blasphemy”). Jesus took care of that by then actually healing the paralytic. The first part of the verse is the part that has great application for us, though.

Four men, great friends of this unnamed paralyzed man, heard that Jesus was healing. So they carried their friend on his mat to Jesus, but they hadn’t anticipated what they saw. The house Jesus was in was packed with people. They could not get in, and no one was predisposed to move aside. They would not be denied this opportunity, though, so they went up on the roof (via the typical outside stairs) and removed enough of the roof to lower the man on his mat in front of Jesus, so Jesus could heal him.

This is where we see that incredible statement: “Seeing their faith.”

We tend to think of faith as a subjective system of belief and trust. So it is. The tending among many believers, however, is to limit faith just to the area of subjectivity. We speak often of believing with the mind and the heart. In this case, however, Jesus “saw” the faith of these men. That tells us that faith is something that can and should be seen. It should be visible through the actions of those who say they believe.

Faith is something we demonstrate. If you say you believe in the Lord, show it.

Lord, Help us today to demonstrate our faith in You in how we live, speak, and relate. Amen.