Waiting or Walking, part 1

This entire entry is from the blog of my new church (Soul City!) :). Here's the link to the actual post: http://soulcityblog.com/opening-doors/. I've appropriately titled this blog as "part 1", because I plan to give my two cents at a later time. But enjoy the words of Jeanne Stevens for today!



Jesus Heals a Paralytic
“A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even
outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Mark 2:1 – 4

"I love this story for many reasons; of course anytime Jesus heals someone it reminds me of his miraculous touch and his desire to bring peace to the afflicted. I also love that it’s only Chapter 2 of the Gospel of Mark and Jesus is drawing the kinds of crowds from his teaching that create a standing room only situation. But I think what I love most about this story is the 4 men of faith that carried their friend on a mat to see Jesus. It didn’t matter to them that there was a huge crowd, it didn’t matter to them that Jesus was in the middle of teaching the word It didn’t matter what the potential outcome of the interaction would be with Jesus – they had no guarantee that their friend would be healed. It didn’t matter to them that there was no way in to see Jesus – they decided to create one.

These four men of faith decided not to wait for an open door opportunity – instead they decided to create an open door – in the roof. They loved their friend and they had a holy determination that their friend needed to see Jesus.
I can picture Jesus preaching and all of a sudden in the middle of a great story he is telling or a point that he is trying to drive home a skylight is created in the roof and down comes a man. I can imagine Jesus looking up at the 4 guys holding the 4 ropes while their friend lay on a mat and beaming over their gutsy and unconventional faith that pushed them to create an open door opportunity for their friend to be healed.

I want that kind of determination in my faith. I want the kind of raw gutsy belief that would cause me to climb on top of a building and cut a hole in it – just so my friend could see Jesus.

I want to be daring instead of waiting around making excuses as to why it’s not a good time for me to step out in faith.

I have come to believe that praying for open doors is a cheap way of asking God to take away the pain of what it means to walk by faith. Being hopeful of what we can’t see is sometimes just plain terrifying – but it can also be delightful."