How Desperate Are You?

“When they couldn’t find a way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof, removed some tiles, and let him down in the middle of everyone, right in front of Jesus.”  [Luke 5:19 -The Message]

Desperation! In my professional career, I observed and talked to dozens of people who were in a desperate situation. Most saw no way out, so they decided to take matters into their own hands. Many people, in a desperate financial situation, began compromising their standards. This led them to do things they never thought themselves capable of doing—printing counterfeit money, buying counterfeit money, stealing and abusing credit cards, fraudulently applying for loans using someone else’s identity, or just downright theft. Time and time again, they confessed to being desperate and not knowing what else to do.

Have you ever been there?  Perhaps you didn’t resort to illegal activity, but what about other “activity” that was just as detrimental to your mental and spiritual well-being? 

The paralyzed man from our verse above is desperate! We don’t know his name, we don’t know how he became paralyzed, but we can deduce that he was indeed desperate. He was so desperate that he asked his friends to do WHATEVER it took to get him to  Jesus. So, his friends carried him on a mat to the house where Jesus was teaching, but were unable to make their way through the massive crowd. With no way to get inside, the friends looked around frantically. The roof! Seriously? Are you kidding me?  Yet that is exactly what they did! They climbed up to the roof, removing enough roof shingles to lower their friend down in front of Jesus. Now that is taking “whatever” to an epic level!

Guess what happened?  Jesus healed the man and he walked through the crowd, straight out of the house.  Not only could he walk, but Jesus went one step further and healed his spiritual heart, too! Now that is receiving more than you could have ever hoped for!

Are you desperate enough to do whatever it takes to get to Jesus?