Skip to main content

Watch Out for the Seeking Faith

Luke 5:18-20
18 And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, 19 but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. 20 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 

Too often, churches nowadays are becoming exclusive and isolated to the real world as they create and build themselves with their services and ministries. We want to make sure we are always the first to glance the beauty of our God where we want to surround the church in every place we can fit in and leaving no space for others to even squeeze themselves just to have a look of Jesus. We think mostly that we are the first to be called and so we must always the first to lead. We all loved to be in the front row, especially if an opportunity to witness an awesome Broadway play, to lead a project in our workplaces, to be the best in our talents, to be recognised, and there is no difference in the church services and ministries.

How about the seekers? How they will find Jesus if people surrounding Him is blocking their way in? Are we so exclusive that others can't join us? Or are we thinking that we are far righteous than anyone who does not belong to our church. God has a reminder to us in Luke 5:18-20 that people of seeking faith will find their way in no matter what. It somehow can be referred to the saying that "if there is a will, there is a way." However, he wants us to give ways and space easier for people to access Jesus as that is the very first step for every seeker to know Him. Without such, it is difficult for us to bring the lost souls to Him.

Any doctrinal traditions, norms, and practices should not be enforced immediately to anyone entering the church to know more of Christ. The core belief is important, however, it should allow to be questioned when necessary as it will speak for itself if true and from God. The most important is that we let our community of believers to allow outside people to immediately access God for repentance and forgiveness where Jesus saving grace has offered, both in active or passive sharing of the Good News of Salvation through Christ, the Messiah. Remember in verse 20, Jesus loves forgiving us as He came to reconcile us back to God in everlasting relationship with Him. 

Always keep the way toward Jesus open at all times as it will reflects our church how welcoming are we for every seeking lost souls with faith. God bless everyone!

Comments

Explore The Most Read Post for the past year

Put Our Hope In God, not in uncertainties

(Midweek Devotions, 1 Timothy 6:17-21 - 25 Oct 2023) 1 Timothy 6:17-20 17  Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  18  Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.  19  In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. 20  Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge,  21  which some have professed and in so doing have departed from the faith. Grace be with you all. We are in the final last 5 verses in book of First Timothy, an important pastoral letter which is very helpful for any man of God...

Man of God - Pursue, Fight, Take Hold

(Midweek Devotion - 1 Timothy 6:11-16, 18 Oct 2023) 1 Timothy 6:11-16 11  But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12   Fight the good fight of the faith . Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13   I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, 14   to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15  which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16  who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. In the parting words of Apostle Paul to Timothy, aft...

Spiritual Gifts Are Free Gifts

Acts 8: 18-23 18  Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money,  19  saying, "Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit."  20  But Peter said to him, "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!  21  You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.  22  Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.  23  For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity." All disciples of Jesus have given the power from God through the Holy Spirit. This is something Jesus had told us that He will send us an advocate or a helper and He will teach us with righteousness and will help us to remember everything that He taught us. T...

Godliness with Contentment is Great Gain

(Midweek Devotion, 1 Timothy 6:6-10) 1 Timothy 6:6-10 6  But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7  for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8  But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9  But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. One of today’s common deception in modern Christianity movement is the use of the Gospel as a solution to life of prosperity. Though the Bible have shown us many great examples of people of God who received and accumulated great wealth in their obedience to God, that does not mean that we also have to focus of such things in our walk of faith. What does the Bible said about prosperities ...

Respect - To Serve Them Even Better

(Midweek Devotion, 1st Timothy 6:1-2, 27 Sept 2023) 1st Timothy 6:1-2 1 All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered. 2 Those who have believing masters should not show them disrespect just because they are fellow believers. Instead, they should serve them even better because their masters are dear to them as fellow believers and are devoted to the welfare of their slaves. One of the great things about the Sacred Scriptures is that, it does not talk about God alone but also talks about His creatures behaviour, particularly human being, more specificallly those who are His people. 1st Timothy 6 gave us an idea of how both one who are UNDER authority and one who are IN authority should behave as bearers of the name of God. The Bible clearly values authority and how important one should submit to an authority over him. The Bible itself claims authority for Truth, thus, no wonder tha...