Last night we had two missionaries from the Philippines. That is the correct preposition -- they are not missionaries 'to' the Philippines, but are national pastors. They each presented a slide show of their work.
The message was from Luke 5, the story of the man with palsy. That same story is told in Matthew 9 and Mark 2. A bit of detail different in each one – Matthew doesn’t mention the crowds or the roof; Mark does, along with removing a portion of the roof; Luke does, and mentions tiles on the roof. All three write of Christ noting their faith – that of the friends as well as the sick man. All three confirm the reason for this healing:
But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins (Matthew 9:a6 KJV)
But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins (Mark 2:10a KJV)
But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins (Luke 5:24a KJV)
That’s when my thoughts moved away from the pastor’s train of thought to follow a rabbit track for a moment. I quickly wrote a reminder before returning to the four friends hanging on to the rope.
Do we believe that God forgives our sins? Can you think of someone whose sins are so bad that God cannot forgive them? How about our own?
Until we can understand God’s forgiveness, how can we acknowledge our own sins? The new covenant Christ gave His life for tells us what sin is. Many are specifically listed, probably so we won’t miss them when we take inventory. The listed ones are those we’d like to skip over and ignore when they are residing within ourselves. Do we believe God has forgiven us? Others?
If not, how can we glorify him? That’s included in each of the three gospels, too.
But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men. (Matthew 9:8 KJV)
And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion. (Mark 2:12 KJV)
And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day. (Luke 5:26 KJV)
Which describes your response to forgiveness? Marveled and glorified? Amazed and glorified?
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