Who can forgive sins but God alone?

Daniel 9; Daniel 10; Psalm 123; Luke 5
Click Here To Read Today’s Daily Bible Reading

Scripture

Luke 5

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

17 One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. 18 Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."
21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, "Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 25 Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26 Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today."

Who can forgive sins but God alone?

Observation

There are so many things today that I could write about from Daniel, Psalm 123 and even a couple of different things from Luke 5. These passages are full of great lessons for us. Daniel was such a man of prayer and it was no wonder that he had angels come and speak to him. In Luke 5 I started to write about how the disciples left everything to follow Jesus. How many times do we say we want to follow Jesus, but we also want to try to drag around all of our worldly stuff as we follow? We are more like the rich young ruler than one of the twelve disciples aren’t we? But I decided to write about the Deity of Christ today. Only God can forgive sins. Jesus told the man, “Your sins are forgiven!” Wow! God has spoken, and the Pharisees because of the hardness of their hearts missed knowing him. They knew from scripture that only God had the power to forgive sins, but they refused to accept that Jesus was God.


Application

I know that Jesus is God. He has asked me to follow Him. I can trust Him completely to take care of me as I follow Him. Because He is God I know that He has forgiven me completely of my sins as He promised. I will not be afraid.


Prayer

Heavenly Father, You are Awesome! To come down to this earth, to die in my place so that I could have eternal life and have a personal relationship with you is way more than I can comprehend. Thank you for asking me to follow you. Help me to follow you today with all my heart! Amen.



Today’s "Life Journal" Daily Bible Reading can be found on Line. Click Here!