… and if you cannot come by yourself, find the ones who will bring you to him.
And once you live with Jesus, find the ones who need to be brought to him and take them with you.
You find yourself having the desire for change of your life, for complete transformation, you are tired of struggling with your sin and weaknesses, with strange habits, anger, darkness, depression… and you want the life of true joy and abundance, the life that brings joy to God, to others, to yourself?
Yes, this is the deep desire of our spirits. Knowing this desire is the first step, taking the second step of actually coming to Jesus – because he is the only one who can give us this life we desire – we might face several obstacles.
However, these obstacles are no reason to fall into despair, as God provides the ways to overcome them.
Let us look at persons of the Bible who overcame such obstacles between themselves and Jesus.
Mark 2:1-5. The man was crippled and had no possibility to go to Jesus by himself. Even with the four people carrying him, the direct way to Jesus was blocked. So how did he eventually come before Jesus? It was the faith of the four men. They did not despair seeing the crowd that blocked the way to Jesus – they looked for a solution, probably they prayed deeply, having the strong desire to see their paralyzed friend saved. And they found the way – through their faith the paralyzed men was spiritually and physically healed.
Jesus was impressed by the four men’s faith (Mark 2:5), their faith enabled them to overcome the obstacles, the situation that was against them, and touch the heart of Jesus.
Another example we find in Zacchaeus, the tax collector, who was too short to see Jesus, who was surrounded by a crowd (Luke 19:1-10). Zaccheaus, looking for a solution, found the sycamore-fig tree, climbed up, and was able to see Jesus, and even more, to catch the attention of Jesus himself. Following this, Jesus approaches Zacchaeus and the beautiful story of Zacchaeus transforming his life takes its way.
Both situations can be ours. We might find ourselves completely dependent on others, like the paralytic, or we need a tool, an auxiliary mean, to approach Jesus.
In the first case, we can only pray for faithful persons to lead us to the Lord, in the second case, we need to pray and open our eyes for the help that God has prepared for us.
In both cases, Jesus is the solution, and he willingly and joyfully helps those who come to him through faith.
Once I have encountered the Lord, I myself may become like one of the four men, seeing others being paralyzed, unable to approach Jesus by themselves. Then it is my faith that can heal and save them.
Being aware of all the people who carried me before Jesus when I was paralyzed, and seeing all the sycamore-trees that God has provided in my life in order to come to him, seeing all this help, sacrifices and love of others that enabled me to receive the new life in Christ I become very touched and thankful. And this thankfulness will enable me to carry many others before the Lord, or to become the sycamore-tree that helps them to encounter him.
