April 27
Join Forces
When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
—Luke 5:20
The Gospel of Luke tells the story of a paralyzed man brought to Jesus by his friends to be healed (Luke 5:17–26). The house where Jesus was teaching was too crowded for them to go in. But his friends intervened. According to Luke, they sought to do something for him:
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. (Luke 5:19)
These good friends said, “No problem. Let’s go up and come down through the roof.” I like the attitude these guys had! This man needed help, and his friends knew Jesus could help him. Luke tells us when Jesus saw the man’s faith, “He said to him, ‘Man, your sins are forgiven you’ ” (Luke 5:20).
When you stop and think about it, most Christians have not come to Christ through the testimony or lifestyle of merely one Christian. Several people impacted our decision to follow Jesus. One person made an impression. Someone else made an impression. One sowed a seed. Another watered the seed. Then ultimately, that time of reaping resulted.
Often a number of Christians working together can bring someone to Christ who would not necessarily be brought by one. Together you can share with someone, you can pray for someone. Join forces, work together with your Christians friends—you can reach someone.
Copyright © 2005 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000.