1. The paralytic responded obediently

“He said to the paralytic, ‘I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.’ And he rose…”

The work of Jesus demands a response. For the paralytic, Jesus commanded him to pick up his bed and go home. What Jesus asks you and me to do in response to his work in our lives will differ depending on our own life experiences. While all of us share the same predicament of sin common to fallen humanity, its expression in our lives takes on a vast array of shapes. No one grows up in a vacuum.

One incredible aspect of the healing of the paralytic is that the command of Jesus challenged the man to face his area of greatest weakness. Here was a man who could not take a single step on his own. It was his area of greatest physical failure and weakness. But Jesus challenges him to face that weakness, stare it in the eyes, and conquer it.

I believe that Jesus can heal and bring victory to the lives of people today in the exact same way. He knows our areas of greatest weakness and failure and he alone can bring true restoration to those areas. Granted, the healing he offers you and me may not necessarily be physical in nature. But his grace is sufficient to cleanse the human heart of all sin and shed the love of God abroad.

What is the obedient response to the work of God in the life of the believer? It is nothing other than a life of true Christian holiness. Where does this holiness begin? When Jesus does in a work in our lives, who will be the first to be affected by it? It is clear from this text of Scripture that upon healing this man's brokenness he was to take his experience home with him before anywhere else (“go home,” v. 11). It is true that the change and restoration that Jesus brings to our lives must impact the world around us, but its impact must first be felt in the most common and personal places and with those we are most intimately connected to.

The work God does in the very center of our beings is one that requires an obedient response. His healing work is not the end, but the beginning and the means to an end. He desires that we respond to Him in obedience and pursue holiness of heart and life.

Questions for reflection:
1. What has Jesus done in your life to heal and restore you?
2. What efforts have you made to obey his command/s in response to his work in your life?
3. Are you making personal holiness the central goal in your Christian experience?