January 30, 2017

HEALING IN COMMUNITY

Mark 2:5

When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

Personal Challenge

One of the fundamental beliefs of the early Church that we have lost in modern Christianity is the need and power of community. The church of the West has embraced the age of enlightenment and has created an environment and a religious institution that revolves around individualism, Me and my Bible! Me and my salvation! Me and my worship! Me and my...! The early Church and the church of the East have taught and continue to teach, that our salvation is worked out in our community. That is why so many of our prayers use terms such as, "we," "us," and "our". Jesus commends the friends of the paralytic for their faith. He claimed that it was their faith, and the subsequent action that they took because of that faith, that produced the healing and the forgiveness of the sins for their friend. The paralytic had to humble himself and submit to his friends and their belief that Jesus would heal him. So many people that I know, dear friends and acquaintances, often complain that their church does not provide the community that they desire, the desire that God built into each of us. Come and see another way to worship!