“When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.'” – Luke 5:12

There is a lot of disunity in our world because of the power people have allowed mistakes, disabilities, and differences to have over someone’s identity. When someone does or experiences something beyond what is considered acceptable or normal, judgement is passed on them and in result, changes their worth.

I have seen students shun others for not having material things that are “trendy”. I have heard rude comments mumbled by strangers aggravated at another person, solely because of their differences in race or social class. And I have witnessed some introduce their “friends” by highlighting their disability or disease.

It is as though who we are is strictly determined by what we endure or do. Got sick? Now you’re “that one guy or girl with the disease.” Got hurt? Oh, now you’re known as the limp or weak one. Got betrayed? Now everyone talks behind your back with pity or mockery. Messed up? All you are to others now is a let down.

It is as though we forever have a mark of our wounds or mistakes in life. And if you haven’t felt the weight of these things on your identity yet, then perhaps yours will come in the future or you have just missed the quiet whispers around you.

People have been on a pursuit of tearing others down since the fall in Eden. Why? Because of pride.

Pride causes friends to stab one another in the back. It’s lead families to cut ties off with members who “are too far gone”. It has resulted in crushed dreams of individuals who have been told they’ve hit their peak in life due to a new diagnosis or injury.

Pride hurts others. Sometimes, it even kills.

But pride doesn’t just degrade others. It stops us from becoming who we were made to be. We may assume that it is the route to maximum potential. When in reality, it is but a wrong and limited perspective of success, freedom, and value.

In Luke 5:12, we see a man who is sick. A man isolated, not by his own will, but because the community determined him as worthless. This man had a disease, and a contagious one at that. Knowing this, some today may use that as justification for rejecting him and stripping him of dignity. But as the God of all creation walks by him, we see a different response.

He looks at the man who calls on Him. He reaches out. And He says one of the most tough statements for us today to say to someone we consider unclean, worthless, or broken. He says, “I am willing.”

Willing to heal. To love. To speak to. To befriend. To forgive. To hear from. To spend time with. To perceive as one who is redeemed.

This man who was sick and crying out to Jesus had pride. Not in himself, but in the one he called “Lord”.

By falling at the feet of Jesus, he broke free from the binds his community put on him. He pushed past the identity everyone told him he had. He did not stay silent. He did not stay far away. He ran to God, believing there was a new identity, purpose, and hope for him. Not because of who he was, the life he lived, or the disease he had. He had pride in Jesus because he believed He was the God who could and the God who would.

How long have you believed the purpose for your life is but a pipe dream? How long have you stared in the mirror, seeing only the identity others gave you? How many people have you treated as worth less than the value God gave them, just because you cannot see it?

Jesus was willing to reach for us. And I am not just talking about this story in Luke 5. I am challenging you to consider the reach Jesus took from the throne in Heaven to the rugged, wooden cross.

Since man sinned, we have continued to run from God. We have sought out other loves. And we have rejected the reality of being one made in God’s image.

This man who was healed was told to keep his miracle rather quiet. But scripture tells us; “Yet the news about him spread all the more.” This individual saw the wonders of God. He saw the heart of Christ. And considering the pain he probably endured as a reject from society, it is incredibly shocking that he chose to speak of this new found hope to the same people who called him an outcast for so long.

Oh how beautiful this world would be if we saw one another through the loving eyes of Christ, with a heart burdened for every single persons salvation, even our enemies, like this man had.

When Jesus gave His life for you and I, it was without regret and in hope to impact everyone. John 3:16 tells us there is not one person God desires to perish. Not one. Yet we still find ourselves driven by pride and hurting others.

My dear friend, there is a God who has authority and power over everyone and everything. He is the One who determines your identity and purpose. And as justified as He would be to call you worthless and a let down, He chose to reach out in love and take the consequences of our actions. This God is named Jesus. No one else could do what He has done for you. So not only is He the One who could, but He is the willing One who did.

He did free you. He did redeem you. He did call you made new. He did take your penalty for every one of your sins. He did make a restored path to commune with Him. He did it all. And He did it all for you.

For. Every. Single. One. Of. Us.

I pray you learn to let go of the pride in yourself and begin seeing yourself, your neighbor, your family, your enemies, and everyone you pass by, through His eyes. Will you reflect His love and reach out, touching the untouchable?

Thoughts to Consider:

Do you struggle to see yourself the way God sees you? Consider the lengths He went through for you.

Who in your life is it hard to believe God redeemed too? Pray for them.

What is holding you back from believing the God who can, did in fact do everything to redeem us?

Consider the way others could see God’s willing heart for them if you began treating them with the value God speaks over them instead of what society calls them.

“When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.'” – Luke 5:12