Mark 2:5-12
When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? 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,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. 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.

It was easy to say such a thing, but it is much harder to do such a thing. It would have been easy for Jesus to say that this man was forgiven without doing anything at all because it was an invisible thing. The crowd surrounding him could not see that he was forgiven. They couldn’t see his sin being washed away. They couldn’t see his heart. They couldn’t see all that he now possessed simply because he had been forgiven.

But to prove that He had done something and that He did have the power and authority to forgive sin, Jesus does this other thing that can be seen. He heals this man’s physical condition so that a man who couldn’t walk before is now able to rise up and walk. A man who had to be carried on his bed by four other people can now carry that bed and walk home himself.

It is easy to say anything, but the test comes in the doing. And for this man, he went home not only physically whole, but spiritually whole, as well. It wasn’t just that he could walk around, but that he could walk with God in a new relationship. With his sin taken care of, he could walk in freedom. With a pardon directly from God Himself, he could walk in newness of life.

So I wonder what that inward change looked like for this man, and what does it look like for us? Our salvation is not a visible physical change, but it should be something noticeable in our lives. Gone is the burden of sin and the guilt of all we have done, the shame of our wickedness and failures. Gone is the prospect of condemnation and judgment. And added to us is the Spirit of God, His love, mercy, and grace. Added to us is this sure knowledge that we are whole in Christ and that we have eternal life. And what difference will that make for us in how we live, what we say, where we go, what we do? Will those around us know that we have been to Jesus and have been forgiven? What can others see in you now that you are walking with Him?