Jesus first encounters opposition to his ministry when he begins to

proclaim the forgiveness of sin.

Things get confrontational when Jesus refuses to be limited to the surface

issues of our lives. Declaring himself as the one who forgives sin means

not only equating himself with God, but tells us we have a fundamental

problem which only He can solve.

Often our requests to Jesus reveal that we only really want him to scratch

the surface issues of our lives. But Jesus is primarily fixated on the

state of our hearts. If we let him, he will transform our hearts to be ones

after his own. This is where lasting peace, joy, praise, and freedom is to

be found.

By Ed Flint