“Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus, but they couldn’t reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus.”

I’ve written before that I used to challenge those who worked for me, or with me, when they would use the word, “Hope”.  As an answer to the questions of, “How”  or “When”,  hearing “I hope…”, just never set well with me. I read a long time ago the book, “Hope is Not a Method”, so I would use that title as my response to “Hope” being others’ answer.  And I believe this.  To think that hope by itself is enough to get things done, then we can be sure that we will fail.  Without the method, the plan, the process and the resources, hope alone just can’t carry the day.  That said, I’ll take a hopeful person any day of the week over one who never thinks that much can happen that is beyond what has been proven to be done in the past.  Hope is a powerful motivator, it just can’t be counted on to be the sole reason that things will or won’t come to fruition.

Yesterday we looked at the account of the paralyzed man being lowered through the roof so that Jesus could heal him.  I discussed the sharing of effort and how important that can be.  But, what I also read into this story is that the hope we have in Jesus, which can certainly make miraculous things happen can be realized by even grabbing onto one corner of the effort.  I know that sometimes I feel like my hope is diminished if I can’t see the whole picture or that I can’t control all of the activities or actions.  But, that is not how Jesus portrays it to us.  We can gain all of the hope that is in Him by just picking up one corner, one small faithful action, and all of the hope that is of Him can come to us. If that doesn’t make us hopeful today, then I’m not sure what can.

Reference: Luke 5: 18-19 (New Living Translation)