Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Numbers 25-28
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Luke 5:22-24
Jesus (responding with His own question): Why are your hearts full of questions? Which is easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven” or “Get up and walk”? Just so you’ll know that the Son of Man is fully authorized to forgive sins on earth (He turned to the paralyzed fellow lying on the pallet), I say, get up, take your mat, and go home.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
Have you discovered yet that it’s easier to say something than it is to live it? If you haven’t learned that truth, you just haven’t lived very long or you don’t talk to anyone or something. Everyone knows it’s easier to talk about something than it is to do it. It just is.
I learned that lesson again recently when I undertook the task of building a pergola on our back porch. I did a lot of research, read a lot of different how-to web sites, looked at a lot of different designs. I drew out a simple blue print and figured out how much material it would take and made sure I had the right tools to do the job. Simple, right?
Then the lumber company delivered the 1,800 pounds of cedar it would take to put that monstrosity in the air. First, there was the fourteen gallons of stain it took to prepare the wood before I made the first cut. I figured it would be a lot easier to stain the wood at waist level before construction than after it was in the air (and a lot easier to clean up any mess I was sure to make in the process, too). By the end of the staining, I thought I had done some work, but that was only the beginning.
Yep, talking about something is significantly easier than doing it. And talking about doing something you can’t see is easier than talking about something you can see. It was much easier to promise to research the building of the pergola than to build it. The research was mostly in my head with just a few notes and drawings on a few pieces of paper. But the physical pergola that you can actually see and touch, that was a lot more difficult to put in the air.
So everyone understands when Jesus asked His question of the Pharisees, “Is it easier to say to this man, ‘Your sins are forgiven or take up your mat and walk?’” Things you can’t see are so much easier to promise than things you can see. Still, Jesus knew what He could do and made His most important promise to the paralytic first. “Your sins are forgiven.”
Those words are easy to say. In fact, it’s easy for us to say the words to someone else. “I forgive you.” It’s easy to put those three words together and project them toward someone who has wronged you. But can you make that promise in a way that is visible to the one to whom you project them? Can you say the words and mean them when the pain for the wrongs done still lingers? Jesus did. He forgave the paralytic his sins knowing he would carry the man’s sins to the cross and die for them.
We can say the words pretty easily, just like I could say I would build a pergola on my porch. But the proof is in the seeing. The paralytic knew what happened right away because he felt the guilt of his sins melt away with the words Jesus spoke. No one else knew the proof right away because they couldn’t see the evidence. It was only as he lived his life and they could see the joy in his face that they could see the evidence of what Jesus had done for him. But just because others couldn’t see the results right away, didn’t mean the work hadn’t been done.
It’s like my pergola. If I hadn’t done the research and planning, I wouldn’t have bought the right amount of wood and hardware and stain. As it turns out, I over estimated by two and a half gallons of stain and four pieces of lumber. That’s enough to touch up all the ends I cut, that I haven’t stained yet, and maybe enough to build a bench attached to the rail at the edge of the porch. You couldn’t see the planning except by way of the end result. Neither could you see Jesus’ forgiveness expect by way of the end result of the paralytic’s joy in his freedom from the guilt of his former sins.
Jesus wanted others to know He never lied and had the power to do what He said He could do, though. So He did something others could see, not just hear about. Like my building the pergola, so others could see it when they sit on the porch instead of me just talking about it, Jesus healed the paralytic so the Pharisees knew He could do what He said He could do. He did what seemed impossible. He healed a man who could not help himself, physically or spiritually.
So, like Jesus, when you forgive, do so in a way that others can experience and know you’ve forgiven. Let them see the truth of what you say and not just hear the words.
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