This morning God knew I needed some extra time with Him.  He had some things He needed to square away with me.  I think I’ve mentioned my weekly meeting with one of our pastors.  We are working our way through a book by Timothy Keller–Jesus The King.  The book is written from the Biblical book of Mark.  Today’s chapter that we will meet about is the third one entitled:  The Healing.  It is primarily centered around Mark 2:1-5.  In it the paralytic is lowered to Jesus through the roof where Jesus is preaching to the multitude of followers.  The striking message from Jesus is that He tells the paralytic that his sins are forgiven and then He heals him physically freeing him to walk.  The chapter goes deeply into the relevance to us (me).  What is the healing I always wanted and what is it that Jesus wanted?

As I was reading the chapter I found myself realizing (and I’ve said this before) how much I’ve longed for the removal of the shame and guilt of sin done to me.  Over time this has been taking place.  Along with this, I’ve realized how important it was for me to fully become aware of my own sin and what I fled to when I was deep in shame/emotional pain.  I would want to flee to Christ, but I would initially flee to other gods–porn or self-gratification.  Christ has all along wanted to replace these gods with Himself.  My lifetime plea had been to be healed of something that would address the surface problem, but Christ longed to replace the deeper one–the one blocking me from truly embracing Him.  The new creation He had made me to be is being guided into only looking to Him as my One and Only Savior.  How long I’ve known to do this in my head but how long it has taken me to live this out one day at a time and one moment at a time–trusting and obeying.

I’ve always seen myself different from other men.  Christ is showing me that I may be different but that isn’t meaning less than other men.  “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23.  I am part of the all, not less than the all.  The sin done to me and the sin of me has all been forgiven by the same act of Christ’s obedience to His Own Father–God Almighty.  How much I love Him for this and for His patience helping me know fundamentally that this is done for me too.   Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow!