Isaiah 55:8-11
God's Thoughts Are Not Our Thoughts
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
John 3:3-8
The Flesh and the Spirit
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
Luke 5:17-26
Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man
17 One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. 18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man 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 I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So 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.”
Jesus taught and teaches the eternities...Let us remember those things of the eternal and how He emphasized them in His teachings...Flesh and spirit, the body and soul, the temporary and the eternal we learn in His teachings...There is this relationship between the flesh and the spirit...Jesus’ message forgives the soul, and is bound and headed to the eternal...As we read His comments to Nicodemus, we see His thoughts and His ways are different than our ways...He is at home in both the temporary and the eternal...We on earth only know the ways of the temporary...So when Jesus tells Nicodemus that the flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit, we see His ways of thinking differing in how we think...I would bet as Nicodemus listened to Jesus' commentary, he knew Someone Special was talking to him...
The importance of the soul cannot be spoken enough about...Jesus wants us to realize this...We need to prioritize the spirit, the soul, and the eternal...The soul needs forgiving, and this is the first thing we learn about when Jesus heals a paralyzed man...Jesus wants us to focus on the eternities, the eternal and the needs of the soul...But the things of the soul and not seen and are intangible...What we see is the healing of the crippled man and watching him miraculously walk again...Those watching Him heal the paralyzed man got to see remarkable things that day...Jesus wants us to remember the things we cannot see and the importance of the soul and the spirit and the eternal...