Faith Invents

"And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they
uncovered
the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down
the
bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay."
- Mark 2:4



Faith is full of inventions. The house was full, a crowd blocked up the
door, but faith found a way of getting at the Lord and placing the
palsied
man before him. If we cannot get sinners where Jesus is by ordinary
methods we must use extraordinary ones. It seems, according to Luke
5:19,
that a tiling had to be removed, which would make dust and cause a
measure
of danger to those below, but where the case is very urgent we must not
mind running some risks and shocking some proprieties.
Jesus was there to heal, and therefore fall what might, faith ventured
all so that her poor paralysed charge might have his sins forgiven.
O that we had more daring faith among us! Cannot we, dear reader, seek
it
this morning for ourselves and for our fellow-workers, and will we not
try
to-day to perform some gallant act for the love of souls and the glory
of
the Lord.


The world is constantly inventing; genius serves all the purposes of
human
desire: cannot faith invent too, and reach by some new means the
outcasts
who lie perishing around us? It was the presence of Jesus which excited
victorious courage in the four bearers of the palsied man: is not the
Lord
among us now? Have we seen his face for ourselves this morning? Have we
felt his healing power in our own souls? If so, then through door,
through
window, or through roof, let us, breaking through all impediments,
labour
to bring poor souls to Jesus. All means are good and decorous when
faith
and love are truly set on winning souls.
If hunger for bread can break through stone walls, surely hunger for
souls is not to be hindered in its efforts.
O Lord, make us quick to suggest methods of reaching thy poor sin-sick
ones, and bold to carry them out at all hazards.