“Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 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.” At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?” Matthew 9:1-4
The crowd thought it was blasphemy for a mere man to forgive sins. But Jesus, the God-Man, knew their thoughts and He had the power to forgive sins. He also had the power to back up those words with a miraculous healing. Now, imagine Jesus responding to something you just thought! Freaky!
I was convicted by verse four. “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?” The evil thought these people entertained was unbelief. Jesus said something and they didn’t believe him. How convicting!
Now, a lustful thought is obviously evil. A proud thought is clearly evil. A bitter thought is evil. But Jesus raises the bar here. He states not taking Him at His word (ie: unbelief) is evil thinking!
I wonder if unbelief is our “root sin” for many of the more “obvious” sins we struggle with? Jesus was deadly serious about sin. John 5:14 says, “Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” Jesus said this to a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years! Do we believe Jesus related to the seriousness of sin? Or do we entertain evil thoughts?
Jesus said in Matthew 18:15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone.” Do we believe Jesus related to correcting each other? Or do we entertain evil thoughts?
Thinking,
Josh
Posted in A Word from the Pastor