The older I get, the more I realize how much sin has damaged our world. Things are not as they should be, and therefore we are not who we should be. The trouble is that we often worry about our external problems instead of our internal ones. We pray, and rightly so, for God to take away our pain, but do we pray just as passionately for God to take away specific sins? Can you imagine if we had a prayer chain where we called each other about a sin that had been particularly troublesome or alluring that week? I would never dream of doing something like that. It feels more important to call about an illness or a terrible accident. God, however, take sin very, very seriously, and He knows that having our sins forgiven is far more important than having our body healed.
That’s what happened in our Bible reading for today—the story of the paralyzed man whose four friends let him down through the roof. Once the man gets to the floor, Jesus, instead of saying His customary, “Get up and walk” tells the man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Jesus then heals the man, who walks out of the room completely restored both physically and spiritually. Jesus’ response to this man shows that forgiveness for his sins is far more important in Jesus' eyes than healing for his body.
As we think ahead to the cross during this time of Lent, let’s remember how serious sin is. It’s so serious that God had to send and sacrifice His own Son for us to be delivered from its grip. And while it’s much easier and more comfortable to live in sin (especially the sins that don’t feel that bad) sin always causes death—physical death, death in relationships, death in our own souls. As I tell my boys, “Everything you do has consequences.” God doesn’t want us to live our lives in sin and the deadly consequences that it causes for us and those around us. He wants us to live in freedom and joy. He wants us to live with our sins forgiven!
Lenten reading for today: Mark 2:1-12
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