The Barrier of Sin; Leaving Everything; and, God’s Healing Power

Luke chapter 5 offers some wonderful nuggets of truth:

In verse 8, Simon Peter felt so unworthy that “he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, ‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!’  This is the attitude that keep many people from being saved.  Some people think they need to clean up their lives, and then they can be saved.  In truth, the opposite is true.  In fact, they cannot really clean up their lives without the saving power of the Holy Spirit.  Although the very gospel message itself proclaims that it is one’s sin that separates him from God, it is often the guilt of that very sin that continues that separation.  In verse 31, Jesus said “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

What we need to do is to follow the examples of the disciples in verse 11, where they “pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed Him (Jesus).”  In verse 28, even Matthew, the tax collector “got up, left everything and followed him.”  It’s not too difficult to pull one’s boats up on shore, to get up, or to follow Jesus.  The true challenge is to leave everything else.

We should follow Christ’s example in verse 16, where He “often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”  Even Jesus had to maintain fellowship with the Father through prayer and quiet time with God.”  Verse 17 is quite interesting because it says that “the power of the Lord was present for him (Jesus) to heal the sick.”  This would imply that even Jesus was not able to perform healing and miracles at all times; rather only at certain times when God the Father specifically sent His power for such purposes.

In verses 24 – 26, Jesus “said to the paralyzed man, ‘I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.’ Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, ‘We have seen remarkable things today.'”  This demonstrates the complete nature of God’s healing.  God wouldn’t heal a toothache with a filling.  Instead he would actually restore the cavity with brand new enamel.

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