Forgiveness is our #1 Need

Im in a small group at my church and on Wednesday nights we watch a short video lesson (on a verse or verses from the Bible) and discuss it. Last night was on Mark 2: 1-12 Jesus Heals a Paralytic. Ive heard the story before when I was younger and what I got from it then was "okay. Jesus can perform miracles. He heals people. Hes a good guy. But before I get ahead of myself I will tell you the story:

Mark 2:(1)A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. (2)So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. (3) Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. (4) Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. (5) When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

So, if you're anything like me or probably the other hundred people around, you're thinking "really? that's it? He's paralyzed and your telling him that hes forgiven, but Jesus that's not what he's here for, he's here to be healed." The story goes on...


(6)Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, (7) "Why does this fellow talk like that?He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (8) Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'your sins are forgiven' or to say 'get up, take your mat and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralytic, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying "We have never seen anything like this!"

After watching the video last night I looked at this story in a whole new view. Jesus knew what the paralytic was there for, he's Jesus. He knows our most important NEED is to be forgiven. We don't know that. At least I never thought of it that way. The paralytics need is to be forgiven, but when the people saw him they assume he needs to be healed. Jesus is trying to teach us that what we think our needs are, aren't what we really need. They guy that does the video made a neat list of what he though his needs were. 


My Needs:
1. Health
2. Prosperity- $money$
3. Companionship- whether its friends or a husband or wife, boyfriend or girlfriend
4. Fame


He pointed out if we are healthy we can make money, and if we are healthy and have a lot of money we can find companionship, if we have those three things we can find fame. 


He then moved forgiveness to the top of the list. We NEED to be forgiven. Before sin was in the world there was good health, we didn't have that need for money. God was going to provide us with all we really needed. After sin came into the world then we needed to worry about health, money, finding friends and fame. I don't know if I'm really getting the message through. We need to wake up and realize how lucky we are because we do not have to pay for our sins after death if we trust in Jesus, HE FORGIVES US. This doesn't mean we should purposely sin, we should try our best to earn the free gift of eternal life, even though Jesus paid the ultimate price and died for us, we could never earn that, but we should show others forgiveness and try to lead a life Jesus would be proud of!


My goal is to wake up and be thankful first for what God has done for me then pray for others.