Ever felt stuck in your hurts, habits or hang-ups? Struggling to get free and making no progress? Blessed is the one who has friends at such a time who will not only tell you where to find help but take you there.
In Matthew 9:2 we read
“Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. “
I have been speaking recently to two people in our CR group who were both initially brought there by the same friend. Sometimes it is not enough to simply tell someone where to find help. You need to take them there. You need to go the extra mile, maybe put yourself out to go and collect them and go with them. Actually going to your first CR meeting is a big step and it really helps if you can go with a friend.
The bible goes on to say
When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”
How many of us have experienced the power of such forgiveness? Often we are not aware of how crippling our anger, resentment and bitterness really is. Jesus begins the healing process by this fantastic act of grace, he unilaterally forgives the paralytic, utterly and completely, no strings.
Unless we experience the forgiveness of the Lord we will remain stuck. For the paralysed, this is the movement that releases the log jam. This is the lynch pin of our healing. Everything flows from this.
Many people have doubts about how Celebrate Recovery works. We don’t offer counselling, we don’t suggest answers to your problems, we deliberately avoid trying to fix you. People say well how does it work? The fact that it does work is undeniable, countless changed lives bear testimony to that, but how?
The common answer is our higher power, Jesus Christ. He is the one who does the work not us. It is not our human wisdom, the excellence of our teaching or our loving care which heals people. It is their encounter with our higher power. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life”.
The religious experts of the day accused Jesus of blasphemy. Only God can forgive sins they said. I love the way Jesus did not allow the criticism of others to deflect him from his purpose.
But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? “For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? “But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” And he arose and departed to his house.
Many of us cannot describe exactly how we got free from our hurts, habits and hang-ups. We know that once we were stuck, paralysed by our problems. Then a friend helped us to meet Jesus Christ and somehow, over time, He has liberated us. It involved receiving forgiveness from Him. Experiencing His forgiveness enabled us to forgive those who had hurt us and walk free from things which had held us bound for years.
The friends of the paralytic are not named, they received no glory, but were their lives changed by their act of kindness? What do you think? Have you seen your friends set free by Jesus? How did this affect you?