Luke 5:18-20 “Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. (19) And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus. (20) When He saw their faith, He said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
Another example where we can very clearly see faith in action is given to us in the scripture quoted above. In this passage we see that the man who was paralyzed and the four men who carried him were determined to get to Jesus. Very few would have done what they did to get to Jesus. When they could not get in by conventional means because of the crowds, they carried their friend onto the roof and broke through the roof in order to lower the paralyzed man in front of Jesus. Scripture plainly tells us that Jesus saw their faith. In other words their action, which was extreme, showed our Lord that they were fully convinced that He would heal their paralyzed friend. We all know the outcome of this account in that our Lord did heal that paralyzed man, and he got up took up his bed and walked out in front of everyone. And so that is what being fully convinced in your mind means. It would be very difficult for anyone to persuade you not to speak and act on what you believe. You will recall the account of blind Bartimaeus being healed by the Lord and how the people tried to get him to be quiet, but he cried out all the more. He was fully convinced in his mind that Jesus would heal him, and that is exactly what he got (Mark 10:46-52). In the same manner, by our words and our actions, our faith is tangible in this life and will always activate God’s power.
Michael E.B. Maher
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