Evidence of Forgiveness
Mark 2nd Chapter
10 “But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)
11 I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.
12 And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.”
What if I told you that God gives His children evidence of His forgiveness, would you believe me? If not, then I truly understand because forgiveness seems to be “intangible.” You cannot touch forgiveness, neither can you smell forgiveness. Yet there is touchable, seeable evidence of its existence.
In this week’s text, we see one person who was given tangible evidence of God’s forgiveness. Our text comes from a passage of scripture we shared a few weeks ago regarding the man with palsy who was carried by his four friends. Now the first thing Jesus did after seeing the faith of the man’s friends was to forgive the man of his sins. This should be no surprise to us because He (Jesus) is most concerned about our eternity. Nevertheless, He also is concerned about our earthly life as well. Remember these words spoken by Jesus:
John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
Jesus came to this earth because He desired for us to have a wonderful life filled with joy, happiness, peace, and prosperity. He desired for us to walk in the blessings and favor of God. But this is challenging to do when we are sin-conscious. When we keep meditating on the bad things we’ve done, it is almost impossible to enjoy the good things of God. This is why we need to know that we have been forgiven of the things of the past. Whether we fired up a few “left-hand cigarettes,” had an affair or two, or stole company funds, if we confessed our sins to Jesus then He is faithful to forgive us.
Of course we all know this, but the problem most of us face when it comes to forgiveness is really not with Jesus. Our problem is usually with people who attempt to remind us of what we did through finger pointing, laughing, teasing, and taunting. People are the ones who still throw one-liners about what happened simply to stress you when God is out to bless you! Believe it or not, sometimes we should truly thank God for these people because they provoke God to show up on our behalf! Let’s go back to the text to make this point.
Mark 2nd Chapter
10 “But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)
11 I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.”
To paraphrase the 10th and 11th verses Jesus is saying, “O.K., so that you will know who I am . . . And that you will know that this man is forgiven . . . I will give you ‘physical evidence’ of his forgiveness by healing him.” And then Jesus healed him right in the midst of them!
You see, right in the midst of the people who took you through hell and back, God is going to bless you. In the midst of the family and friends who thought you were a religious nut, God is going to bless you. On that job where you’ve been hated and degraded, God is going to bless you. And we aren’t talking about a little “itty bitty secret blessing either. We are talking about the “God-sized” blessing that only He can produce because He loves you, He forgave you, and yet, if the truth be told, He had to show them that you were forgiven. Even if they couldn’t forgive you, He had to tell them through His evidence, “I forgave her, even when you couldn’t,” or “I forgave Him even though you wouldn’t.”
So take the time to recognize the God-sized blessings and know that they are evidence that God has forgiven you. And if that is not enough then know that more “evidence” is on its way to you! Why? Because you have been forgiven.
