A couple of days ago I read Matthew 9:1-8 which talks about how Jesus healed a paralytic man. We all know the story and focus many times on the faith of the man's friends in bringing him before Jesus. What God really spoke to me about, though, was the two things that Jesus granted the man: spiritual healing and physical healing. The teachers of the law were furious at first when Jesus forgave the man's sins. It wasn't until Jesus said, "Get up, take your mat, and go home" that everyone was "filled with awe and praised God."
It is easy to look at that story and criticize the onlookers lack of faith, their shallowness; but I wonder what that man was happier about: forgiven sins or being able to walk? Now, the text really says nothing on the matter, so we can't know. But the question isn't so much, "What mattered most to him?" as "What would matter most to us in the same situation?" If we could only have one thing, would we wish to have our deepest dreams fulfilled, a new lease on life? Or would we run home rejoicing that our sins were forgiven and our relationship with God restored? Now, for those who are reading this and have already had Christ cleanse them from their sin, I think that the same reasoning still applies. Do we seek Christ for what He can do for us or for who He is to us? Food for thought.
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