Our Deepest Need
Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” – Mark 2:3-5 NKJV.
“I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” – Mark 2:11-12 NKJV.
I can understand their amazement. There are times when I come to church and wish that something different would happen. There are times when I hope something extraordinary will happen this time. My life, including my devotional time, too often becomes ordinary, predictable. It is the same thing over and over. You have probably experienced that too. You’ve experienced it at your church. Most services bear a close resemblance to the previous service. We pray, we sing, we hear a sermon, we pray again, and we go home.
This incident in the life of Jesus with the healing of the paralyzed man is a reminder. It is a reminder that our lives, and churches can be interrupted, disturbed, transformed, changed, and given meaning by our Lord Jesus. What was it that brought about this dramatic interruption of services and miraculous healing of the paralyzed man? It occurred because he and his friends realized that only Jesus could help.
Each of us have needs, maybe not as severe as the paralyzed man but we have needs. When we reach the point of acknowledging that only Jesus can meet those needs then the ordinary can become extraordinary. At that point, church ceases to be monotonous and repetitive. At that point our personal devotional time takes on new meaning. Church and our devotional time have new meaning because it has become very personal.
What is our deepest need of all? Our deepest need is to know God and to experience Him. The something unusual, the something different, the something extraordinary that we long for when we come to church is God. To experience God, we must acknowledge our need of Him and that we cannot do life by ourselves. When we come to that point, we will find that church, the praying, the singing, and the preaching is alive. We will find that praying and reading God’s Word is something that we just cannot live without.