SATURDAY SACRIFICE

Good afternoon everyone!!! Hope everyone is having a wonderful day so far =). 

So, today I am going to focus on Matthew 9:1-17, and this is what I received from it.

Ø Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

Jesus saw their faith. Did he see a “faith meter” over their heads that read full like a gas meter…maybe not. I believe he saw their action as a faith. “…faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17). The men brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus knowing that Jesus would forgive and heal him even though they had no proof. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

Ø But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.

 

Don’t ever feel that there is a sin that you have committed that God can’t forgive. He isn’t like us. His ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Jesus has the authority to forgive every sin, no matter what it is. He knows we are not perfect, but HE is PERFECT. When we fall, Jesus wants us to run back to him so he can pick us up and make us right. 

 

Ø I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

Jesus wants us to acknowledge that we need him and that it is him alone that keeps us and makes us righteous. In Hosea 6:6 it says “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.”  God doesn’t want us to think that we are righteous or all good in his eyes because of what we do. Like praying, fasting, giving or reading the Bible every day. We do these things because we realize that we need him more in our lives, and doing things will draw us closer to him.

We are all sinners; however, there are sinners who acknowledge that they are saved by God’s grace. These people are known as Christians! (That’s us=)) “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is nor from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Jesus said it perfectly, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” God calls those who realize they need a savior in their life, who realizes that they need to repent and turn away from their old life to turn to him who makes all things new.

Stay in God’s Peace, not in pieces

Saturday Sacrifice: Hannah