Take a moment and think about the things in your life you’d like Jesus to fix. If he showed up one day and said, “Name it and I’ll fix it,” what would you ask from him? Why?
The onlookers expected Jesus to address the man’s physical needs, but the savior who came for the lost addressed his most critical need—forgiveness of his sins. How big of a deal is your sin to you?
In what ways does your perspective of your sin reflect God’s view of it? Reflect on those you tend to minimize, ignore, or justify.
Reflect on your own history with Jesus. When you first believed, how quickly did you turn from your sin to follow Jesus’s ways?
As we saw with the paralytic, the disciples, and the man with the withered hand, Jesus heals sin and offers us life too. He expects us to offer him all of our lives and in return he offers us all of his life. Will you follow him into abundant life? What will that look like this week?
Instead of embracing Jesus’s teachings, the religious leaders respond by plotting to kill him. Jesus always provokes a reaction. What sorts of responses do people today have toward him? How do you deal with the negative ones?
