Faithful Friends

What it means to be in the Body of Christ

“Some men brought to [Jesus] a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” Matthew 9:2

“When Jesus saw their faith…” Many times in the Gospels, we see Jesus miraculously healing the sick, but this case stood out to me because it was the faith of the paralyzed man’s friends Jesus is noted for seeing.

How many times in our Christian walk have we had the privilege of laying our friends and loved ones at the feet of Jesus through faith-filled prayer? This is just one way the Church (the Church universal) can minister to one another.

“The Bible uses several metaphors for the Church. It pictures the church as a flock, with Christ as its Shepherd (John 10:14). It views us as branches of Christ, the Vine (John 15:5), subjects of Christ’s kingdom (John 18:36-37), and children of God’s family (John 1:12). While all those metaphors are also used in the Old Testament to describe God’s relationship with Israel, there is o…