“While he was preaching God’s word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. They lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus.” – Mark 2:3-4
So, picture this: after all the teaching, preaching, and healing, Jesus came home. And as Matthew 9:2 tells us, “Just then some men brought to Him a paralytic lying on a stretcher.”
These men knew that Jesus could perform miracles and heal. He had been doing it around the lake all day long. By this point, the locals knew that Jesus could do the impossible. That is why there were so many people trying to get to Him!
The four men we are talking about today believe in Jesus. And in their belief, they did a great job of demonstrating to us what it looks like to serve the Lord. How do we serve Him? We serve God by serving others.
Mark 2:3 says, “four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat.” So these four men are carrying a paralyzed man on a mat, but what I want you to see is that serving this man didn’t begin with bringing him, it began by seeing him. You won’t BRING someone until you truly SEE someone.
If we are going to serve others well, it begins with us seeing people the same way God sees them. You see, these friends didn’t look at this paralyzed brother and just see his limitations or problems…they saw his potential! And they believed that Jesus could beet him at his point of need and heal him.
How often do we encounter people and completely lock in on their deficiencies, defects, and flaws? How many times do we write people off as hopeless and say things like, “They’re too lost…they’re too bad…or they are too far gone.”
This is something we are guilty of. But if we want to serve Christ, it starts with serving others, and that begins by seeing people! Do you see the needs, desires, passions, and goals of those around you? Or do you just see their deficiencies and weaknesses? If you want to serve others, it starts by SEEING others!