“Drive bold”, it said alongside the photo of a shiny red BMW X4 (for those who don’t know, that’s a car). Over the page, a shiny silver Maserati Ghibli (another car!) was accompanied by the words, “The head says Yes. The heart says Definitely, Yes.” Perhaps those adverts do nothing for you, especially described coldly without the glossy photos. But other adverts will work on you, as they do on me, getting us to think, “I’d like to have that; my life would be better if I did.” Sometimes they even make us say, “I’ve got to get that; I can’t manage without it.” Of course, those adverts don’t tell us what we really need, simply what the makers want to sell us.
One morning at Holiday Club this week, we thought about the paralysed man whose friends brought him to Jesus. His need was obvious… wasn’t it? He needed to walk. And yet Jesus said to him, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” What was Jesus thinking? Didn’t he care? Jesus saw what he really needed, and gave it to him: he gave him friendship with God, which is for ever. You see, we can go to heaven without all sorts of things. This man didn’t need to be able to walk, but he did need to have his sins forgiven. We can get to heaven without a BMW X4 or a Maserati Ghibli. We can get to heaven without more money, or a bigger house, or a brilliant education. But none of us will get to heaven without having our sins forgiven. Jesus shows us what we really need and – at the greatest cost to himself – wins forgiveness for those who ask.