May 5, 2024
644 Take Heart, Your Sins Are Forgiven, A Guided Christian
Meditation on Matthew 9:1-4 with the Recenter With Christ app
The purpose of this podcast is to help you find more peace in your
life and connect with the true source of peace, Jesus
Christ.
Outline: Relaxation, Reading, Meditation, Prayer, Contemplation and
Visualization.
Get into a place where you can sit comfortably and uninterrupted
for about 20 minutes.You should hopefully not be driving or
anything tensing or unrelaxing. If you feel comfortable to do
so, I invite you to close your eyes.
Guided Relaxation / Guided Meditation:
Breathe and direct your thoughts to connecting with God. Let your
stomach be a balloon inflate, deflate.
Scripture for Meditation
Matthew 9
NIV
1 Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town.
2 Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When
Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your
sins are forgiven.”
3 At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves,
“This fellow is blaspheming!”
4 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil
thoughts in your hearts?
NRSVA
1 And after getting into a boat he crossed the water and came to
his own town.
Jesus Heals a Paralytic
2 And just then some people were carrying a paralysed man lying on
a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Take
heart, son; your sins are forgiven.’ 3 Then some of the scribes
said to themselves, ‘This man is blaspheming.’ 4 But Jesus,
perceiving their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil in your
hearts?
Meditation on Scripture:
This scripture tells of the account of Jesus healing a man. In
another one of the Gospels this man was lowered from the roof. As
the people looked on wondering what Jesus was to do he did not heal
the man right away. Jesus forgave his sins. This is interesting as
it was not what Jesus always did. In this case he chose to forgive
the man first. In time he did both but, which one is more
meaningful? Which one makes a bigger difference
eternally?
If you were a paralytic and you could only choose one, which one
would you choose?
The teachers of the law, challenged him. According to the Law of
Moses this was problematic. Only God could forgive sins. They did
not understand who Jesus was? We have the benefit of the written
word, the telling of the Gospel story and a long tradition of
understanding. Imagine if someone were to tell you that they could
forgive your sins and it wasn’t Jesus. You would not believe them.
That is what these lawyers thought. They didn’t understand the
gospel. They were looking at things from the wrong perspective.
Jesus condemned their hearts. He knew them. He knew why they
struggled. They chose not to believe. The healing was not enough to
even more them in the right direction. What is easier to do, to say
a phrase or to heal someone? It would be easier to say those words
even if they didn’.
Fortunately for us we are not forced to wonder and grope for
forgiveness. We don’t need to hope that someone lowers us down a
roof and be forgiven face to face. We may or may not receive the
healing that we seek but we certainly can receive forgiveness if we
ask it from Jesus.
Meditation of Prayer:
Pray as directed by the Spirit.
Dedicate these moments to the patient waiting, when you feel ready
ask God for understanding you desire from Him.
Meditation of God and His Glory / Hesychasm:
I invite you to sit in silence feeling patient for your own faults
and trials.
Summarize what insights you have gained during this meditation and
meditate and visualize positive change in your life:
This is a listener funded podcast at
patreon.com/christianmeditationpodcast
Final Question: If you consider the invitation and command to
persevere in the faith, what change in your life does that bring to
your mind?
FIND ME ON:
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Website - ChristianMeditationPodcast.com
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Email: jared@christianmeditationpodcast.com
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