From Faith to Friendship to Forgiveness
One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” Luke 5:17-20 (New International Version, NIV)
This paralyzed man wanted to get to Jesus, but he couldn’t. So, his friends tore up the roof and lowered him down to Jesus. When Jesus saw the faith of the man and his companions, He said “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
We can go from faith to friendship and forgiveness. It’s a progression. Faith believes Jesus and takes action. It gets us in right relationship with God, making each of us a friend of God. Friend is covenant language, speaking of covenant partners who share everything with each other. As a friend, we receive God’s forgiveness.
Right relationship with God comes by faith and gives us rights and privileges, including the right to be called God’s friend and the forgiveness of sins. Because we’ve been forgiven, we can receive all we need from Jesus.
Faith believes and receives.
Friendship speaks of relationship with God and others.
Forgiveness erases all sins and wrongs and makes everything right.
Jesus is watching us, just as He watched that man being lowered through the roof. How will He see us respond in life? Let’s respond with faith to see Jesus and receive all the provisions of His friendship.
