THE ANTHEM OF THE DESPERATE: BORROWED FAITH

At some point in everyone's life, we can all relate to this.

Mark chapter 2 and Luke chapter 5 talk of a paralyzed man. A hopeless man. But let's forget about him. 😮
Let's focus in his friends. 😊
All eyes on Luke's account from here on.

The last line of Luke 5:17 says: ...and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.

How these guys knew from outside that there was a healing grace in that room, I have no idea. But they knew it. They just believed: if we can just get our friend into that room, something will happen.

But the room was full and surrounded by a multitude. There was no way in... Much less, with a mattress. But desperate people (the really desperate ones) don't know how to give up.

So here's what the guys did. Are you ready? OK, here goes:
They. Climbed. The. Roof.
You read that casually didn't you? 😏
Sunday school made some of us trivialize this amazing feat.

Let's review. They found a way to lift a mattress with an immobile person on it all the way to the top of a roof. Maybe they used ladders, maybe they used ropes, maybe they used both. But whatever the case they lifted a man onto a roof (without dropping him), they took the center of the roof apart, tile by tile, and lowered the man down into the room. This is boy scout engineering of some sort.

The people around probably thought, "You're not more important than us". They probably felt cheated because someone was crossing the line.
The house owner probably yelled, "Get off my roof! You'll pay for that!". I bet he was regretting hosting the meeting in his house right then.
Maybe the disciples were whispering, "These guys don't have any respect... disrupting our service like this".
Even the guy on the mat might have thought, "I know my friends can be silly, but this is madness".

Well... Whatever. But Luke 5:20 says: WHEN HE SAW THEIR FAITH ... All Jesus saw was faith! Not a ruined roof. 😃
He didn't even look at the sick man's faith. He looked at the faith of his friends. (And there you were thinking your choice of friends is not important. 😏)

But can you be that friend? The one who will rip a roof apart for the sake of your friend's healing? The paralyzed man was forgiven and healed there and then... but not because he was full of faith, but his friends had faith on his behalf. His friends got desperate. They would not put up with his condition even if he would. They cared enough to carry him when he couldn't walk. They allowed him to borrow their faith!

Now it's true, you can't carry someone forever, but while you can, remember, one day they might carry you. We need to cover each other.

So here we end The Anthem of the Desperate. Maybe He is not coming for you, but He's coming anyway.
Faith born of desperation.
Go and do likewise.
✌😎KayO