HE SEES YOUR FAITH

Mark 2:5 “Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, my child, your sins are forgiven.”

There’s a familiar old story that’s told about a tightrope walker who did incredible stunts. All over Paris, he would do tightrope acts at tremendously scary heights. Then, he would do it blindfolded, and then he would go across the tightrope, blindfolded, pushing a wheelbarrow. As the story goes, there was an American promoter who read about this in the newspapers and wrote a letter to the tightrope walker, saying, "Tightrope, I don’t believe you can do it, but I’m willing to make you an offer. For a very substantial sum of money, besides all your transportation fees, I would like to challenge you to do your act over Niagara Falls." Tightrope wrote back and said, "Sir, I’d love to come." Well, after a lot of promotion and setting the whole thing up, a crowd of people came to see the event. Tightrope was to start on the Canadian side and come over to the American side on this rope suspended over the falls. After a suspenseful drum roll, he came across blindfolded.

The crowds went wild, and he came to the promoter and says, "Well, Mr. Promoter, now do you believe I can do it?" He said, "Well of course I do. I mean, I just saw you do it." "No," said Tightrope, "do you really believe I can do it?" "Well of course I do, you just did it." "No, no, no," said Tightrope, "do you believe I can do it?" "Yes," said Mr. Promoter, "I believe you can do it." "Good," said Tightrope, "then get in the wheelbarrow."

You see, faith is never something just to be talked about. It is something that must be demonstrated in the way we live. Paul Harvey once said, “If you don’t live it, you don’t believe it.”

Mark chapter two offers a remarkable account of men with outstanding faith. These men brought a sick friend to Jesus in anticipation of a healing. But when they arrived, they found the place where Jesus was to be overcrowded without a way to enter. They were undeterred. They climbed the walls, tore a hole in the roof and lowered their friend down to where Jesus was. He was healed.

These men were audacious enough to believe him. They were boldly saying, "If you say so, we are going to trust that you care more about people than buildings, and we are going to tear a hole in your roof and put before you one of the very kinds of people you said you have come to help." They believed the things that he had said about himself and they acted on their belief. They were willing to go to lengths that other people would regard as questionable.

I think that illustrates a point about how we are to experience the Christian life. Let me ask you, “Is there anything bold about your faith?” There is a boldness that comes by believing deeply that God means what he says. You see, a hole in the roof was no problem for Jesus. People have always been, and always will be, more important than buildings to him. He saw a bold faith in the action taken by these four men. Let us strive to possess that type of faith; the type that will not be discouraged by the walls in our lives. Jesus sees you. He sees your faith. Keep climbing. A miracle waits.