How Much Faith Do We Have?

 "...some people brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a bed. When Jesus saw how much faith they had, he said to the paralyzed man, "Courage, my son! Your sins are forgiven."

Matt. 9:2

Matthew 9 contains the insight mentioned above, where Jesus heals a man that is paralyzed. While this in itself is amazing, there is another amazing thing that we can witness from this event.  The man who is paralyzed has friends who care enough for him that they want him to be healed by Jesus, and go to great lengths to get him in front of Jesus. 

Faithful people share their faith. Today’s verse comes from the story in Matthew 9 about the friends of a man who was sick and paralyzed. They wanted him to be healed, so they brought him to Jesus by lowering him on his mat through an opening in the roof. When Jesus saw these  friends and what they were doing, Matthew records, "Jesus saw how much faith they had.."  

A good question to ask ourselves, is how much faith do we have?  We might answer, "I have great faith!  I come to church on Sunday, I'm busy in the community and spread good deeds. I give regularly and pray often!" God may then turn to us and ask, "But have you brought your friends to me?"  Just like this man, we too have friends who are paralyzed and can’t get to Jesus. They may be paralyzed by fear, guilt, doubt, pain, or maybe even resentment over being hurt in the past by someone professing to be a Christian. They can’t get to Jesus on their own.

Are we going to be faithful enough to bring them to the Lord?  

We need to take care in coming to the point that we quit "being about the Lord's business."  Serving God is more than "church" and pretending to be religious. The moment we say in our heart that we do not need to grow anymore, we're saying they don’t care about the world.  When we get to this point, God’s blessing is removed because God does care for the world (Jn.3:16).

When we continue to bring people to Jesus, God will bless not only our church family, but also our real families, our businesses, and our lives. God honors the faith of those who share their faith, and not only do you receive a blessing, you become one. 

Jim