Take a few deep breaths to center your heart and your mind as you prepare to meet with God.

Meditation on God

Psalm 139:15-16 says “You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book.” God created each of us, and He knows everything about us. Take a moment to thank God for knowing everything there is to know about us, and still choosing to sacrifice His only Son to win us back.

Teaching

“When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, “What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!” Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!” (Mark 2:1-12)

When I first heard this story, my heart was captured with the wonder of it all. It seemed like an incredible display of compassion and a marvelous turning of the tables of power in their day–and it is all that–but what is the point Jesus is making here? And this is it: everyone else is looking at the outward appearance of the situation–the man’s paralysis, the destruction of property, the fact that Jesus is claiming to forgive sins when he appears to be just a man and is doing so without going through the proper sacrificial rituals at the Temple–but Jesus stands in the center looking at the hearts of everyone around him.

There was a man in our day and age named Dallas Willard who made a name for himself as someone close to God. He once asked a group of pastors this question: if research came out claiming that a church’s received giving jumped by 25% if they used pink envelopes, is it okay to use them? Some said yes, some said no, and others inwardly toiled all too much. In the end, they asked him what he thought, and this is what he said: “I would use them, but I wouldn’t put my trust in them.”

In this story, we see people judging each other based on the outward appearance and circumstances, but what causes the most confusion for everyone involved but Jesus is that He is so brokenhearted about the man’s condition that it supersedes everything lesser. The people upset about the roof and the disruption are upset because they are not empathizing with the crippled man. I would say they are not walking in his shoes, but because of his condition, it’s better to say they are not laying on his mat, helpless and hopeless without a miracle like Jesus worked. They are not sitting there missing out on birthday parties and family get-togethers. They are not lying there, watching through the window at the bustling streets of the city he never walked. They are not feeling his bitterness, grieving, or resentment at the fact that he is unable to live the life that his society says everyone should strive for. When Jesus sees his heart and the pain he has experienced, the healing of his legs was an afterthought. Based on the faith of his friends, having full enough confidence in Jesus’ ability to do exceedingly more than they could ever hope or imagine, Jesus forgives this man’s sins, and to stick it to the hard-hearted religious leaders, heals his legs too.

Examination

Jesus had compassion beyond the outward appearance of things. Take a moment to take Jesus and his compassion with you as you think about something hard in your own life that most people don’t know about.

Now, ask God to bring someone to your mind who you haven’t interacted with beyond the outward appearance of their life situation, and ask God to give you compassion for their inward struggles.

Memory Verse

Keep this verse on your heart as you go about your day.

“People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)