“But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, ‘What is He saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!’” (Mark 2:6-7 NLT)
Why is it so hard for us to learn from our mistakes? Some mistakes are okay to learn the hard way, but missing who Jesus is can be eternally fatal.
If you didn’t fly over the words in the verse above, you noticed that the quoted words weren’t spoken, they were only thought. Yet, Jesus picked them up immediately and responded to them in the next verse. What does this tell us? Certainly, that Jesus knows our thoughts, but beyond that, He cares enough to listen.
Jesus asked the Pharisees, supposed lovers of God, “’Why do you question this in your hearts?’ Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man, “Your sins are forgiven,” or “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk”? So, I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.’ Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!’” (vss. 8-11)
You’d think the fact the Pharisees could do neither – they couldn’t heal OR forgive the paralyzed man, would get their attention, yet, in all their inadequacies they still couldn’t admit Jesus was really God and could do anything. As much as that staggers my mind, what troubles me even more is to know intelligent human beings today are just as thick headed, stubborn, and spiritually defiant as those Pharisees, and we still call ourselves Christian!
We seem never to learn from our mistakes. We knowingly and willingly sin. We commit sin with full knowledge that it is wrong – over and over again, wrongly assuming it has no bearing on our “walk” with God. Forgive me, but are we blind or do we really not know better? Sin separates us from God, yet we continue to sin as a habit without thought of consequence.
Are we more concerned with what pleases us or what pleases God? Because sin does not please God. How can we have intimacy with God when we can’t say no to the devil? It’s like wanting intimacy with our spouse while we have a secret partner on the side. Who are we trying to kid? Certainly not God! He knows our thoughts!
Do you know what it’s called when we commit the same sin over and over? A habit! Habitual sin kills our relationship with God. “But God paid the penalty for all my sins, past, present and future.” Yes, He did, and His blood is sufficient to enable us to find forgiveness for all of them. But when we continue in deliberate sin in defiance of God’s commands what should that tell us? Our sin means more to us than Jesus.
Why is that so important to recognize? Because we can’t live for ourself and God at the same time. We have to make a choice and if God is our choice we need to leave our sin behind. Does that mean we’ll never sin again? No, it means by God’s grace and through the power of His Spirit we can learn to walk in newness of life and overcome our habitual sins.
But how? Let’s look at the answer to that question in tomorrow’s post.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 