In Mark chapter 2:1-12 there is an account of a paralyzed man trying to get an audience with Jesus. However, the crowd was so thick that he could not have come through the normal route, and his friends decided to use the roof to gain access.

There are so many things to unpack in this passage of scripture, but I would like to focus on the chosen access route to get to Jesus. Hence the title, “Who uses the Roof!”.

The roof in those days was different from the present day because it was typically made of a straw and mud mixture. However, breaking into any rooftop, regardless of the era, is not necessarily an easy task.  You need a way to scale the walls, transport your tools on top, lift a paralyzed person above, spend some time digging and deconstructing the roof, and finally have the energy to lower a person through the ceiling and down to the ground. Then there is also the fear that, after all this work, your friend might still not get healed.

However, these men were not men who lived in fear of outcomes; these men were “MEN OF FAITH”. Men of faith live by the never say die attitude; men of faith don’t follow the way of the traditional crowd; men of faith apply a “by all means necessary” type of approach; men of faith aren’t afraid of heights or the risk of falling/failing; men of faith fight to access Jesus; and men of faith place great effort into being in the presence of Jesus. This is what men of faith do, they look for access points to achieve what they need to achieve. May I remind us that the first access point to achieving what we want to achieve in life is first pressing to be close to God. Sometimes that access is obtained easily, and other times it is a bit more difficult.

Like the paralyzed man against the crowd, all of us have crowds in our lives that are hindering us from being closer to God. In other words, the crowd is crowding us out. So, my question to you is, what is crowding you out of being closer to God? What is surrounding you and pressing you to not move closer to touch Jesus? An easy way to find this is by examining what is plaguing your mind. What is consuming your thoughts and crowding your mind, allowing it to be filled with thoughts other than God’s? Such thoughts are like weeds, they stifle the good seed of Christ from properly germinating and growing.

Our Christian walk will not always be smooth. This means that the level of effort we need to expel, along with our thinking and approach, must be different. This reminds me of something I read in the book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. The author said that the poor dad had the habit of saying, “That is expensive; we cannot afford it”, but the rich dad would say, “If you want it, then think about how you can afford it”. You see the fundamental shift in thinking and approach.

I believe this is what we need now in trying to get closer to God. We need a “by all means necessary” kind of approach along with an illuminated spiritual mind to look at things differently. We also must come with a deep desire to make new inroads and carve out new routes for our own lives and the church as a whole. By doing this, we will access ways (roofs) that no one has considered or threaded before, and great will be our blessing for doing it.

I encourage everyone to desire God differently and deeply today. Deep Desire causes us to do things that others will never do. Deep Desire causes us to access the roof.

PS: Dane Miller was last seen accessing the church via the door, but accessing God via the roof.

Your Brother in the Lord,

Dane Miller – “God is the Author, I am the Pen”

Authored Book – What is the Woman Saying – Lessons from Biblical Women.

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