IMAGINE BEING 27 YEARS OLD AND NOT willing to tell your parents you love them. I remember sitting on the bed talking with my folks on the phone. As we ended our conversation I said, “I love you.”

I was 27 years old, and I believe this was the first time in my adult life I’d said those words to them.

Months later they shared the impact of those simple words. After hearing me say “I love you,” they both hugged each other and broke down in tears.

What had I missed in life that made me so resistant to saying those words? Reflecting back upon my teenage years, I can recall two experiences that illustrated a change in my attitude.

When I was about 10 years of age my family took a summer vacation in the Rocky Mountains. We stayed in a group of cabins that formed a small camp. Among the other people there was a boy about my age who had brought a wrist-rocket slingshot along. He hiked around the camp, target-practicing on birds with deadly accuracy. Whenever I found one of those delicately feathered creatures with a stone embedded in it, I would give the bird a funeral.

Eight years later I was out hunting pheasant in the Iowa countryside with my buddies. My friends had shotguns and I had a .22-caliber rifle. Scanning the landscape for a target, I saw a sparrow about 20 yards away. I intently stared down the sights of the rifle, carefully lining up the little creature. Holding my breath, I slowly pulled the trigger. The bullet went right through the target and it fell to the ground in a lifeless tumble. We walked over to inspect the kill. “That bird didn’t even know what hit it,” one of my friends said. We laughed.

What had happened to me during those eight years? I’d gone from a young boy caring about life to a young man willing to destroy life needlessly.

Was It Freedom or Slavery?
I remember that as a child of 10 I would recite our prayer before the family meal. “Thank You for our milk and bread, our workers kind and good. Amen.” As I grew into my teen years we phased out the words of thanks before our meals. It was easy enough to leave behind. We were not attending any church. We thought that going to church was not necessary, that it just burdened a busy schedule. So, like many other American youth, I was set free from religion. Set free from the music, the fellowship, and the sermons of the preacher. Set free from having other people pray for me. I was set free and delivered from the “bondage” of religion, ready to conquer the world, standing firmly on my own two feet.

The cost of being “set free” was more than my family ever realized. My freedom meant that I now faced my teenage years without a moral compass. I used experimentation instead of the Word of God to establish my boundaries. Without the teachings of my Creator to tell me where the boundaries should go, I selfishly placed them where my unconverted heart desired. My freedom turned to slavery. Thus the transformation was complete. What started out as a tenderhearted boy with compassion had been transformed into a hardened young adult.

Like countless other people in this world I was fully grown, ready to make my place in life, and totally ignorant of God’s love for me. It says in 1 John 4:8: “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (NIV). That verse described me. I was devoid of love and did not know God.

But what was the secret that had awakened my heart and allowed me to spring forth with those words to my parents: “I love you”?

What I’d Missed
In Mark 2:1-12 a story is preserved for us that exposes exactly what was missing in my life.

The house was packed and the air was heavy as people pushed against each other, filling every available inch of space. A crowd had even gathered outside to hear the words of this interesting Teacher who had come to Capernaum. Four men came upon this scene carrying their paralyzed friend on a mat. They tried to push through the crowd with their friend, but their

Think About It BY KEITH TRUMBO Do you think the four men regretted having brought their friend to Jesus? Were they disappointed when Jesus said “Your sins are forgiven”? Did they shout down from the roof, “No, Jesus, not forgiveness; we did not go to all this trouble for forgiveness! Heal him so we do not have to carry him home again”? Would we be disappointed if Jesus said “Your sins are forgiven” to someone we brought to Him? How would we react when someone we brought to Jesus received healing for their paralyzed love? Would we be ashamed? Or full of joy? My love was lifeless and paralyzed until someone brought me to Jesus. There are multitudes around us every day, waiting for someone to lead them to the Saviour. They too need to hear Him say to them, “Your sins are forgiven. Take up your mat and go home.” Once my love was paralyzed. I was unwilling to say “I love you” to my earthly parents. Jesus changed all that for me, and He can change all that for you. Imagine what your family would be like with a healed love. We just have to ask ourselves a simple question: Are we willing to receive what Jesus is so willing to give to us?

effort was in vain. Unwilling to let circumstances hinder their mission of mercy, they lifted their friend up to the roof of the house and began breaking apart the simple structure to make a hole in the roof to let him through.

I imagine that inside the house pieces of the ceiling started falling to the floor. Then sunlight broke through a small hole, as four figures worked to widen it. And as the crowd watched in amazement, a man resting on a mat was lowered to the floor next to the great teacher.

Everyone held their breath as they waited for Jesus to respond to this interruption. Looking directly at the man on the mat, Jesus said in a clear voice, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

I imagine the paralyzed man sitting up on his mat with the love of Jesus reflecting off his face. At that moment he was receiving what I had missed in my teenage years: hearing my Creator personally say to me, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Jesus not only forgave the man, but said to him, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” He had healed him from his paralyzed condition. Muscles that had degenerated became strong and full of life. Legs that had become useless regained their original function. Imagine the joy of the healed man as he walked away with his friends, carrying his own mat home!

The same power that healed the paralyzed man’s legs can heal our paralyzed emotions. Mine was a paralyzed love until someone brought me to Jesus and I heard Him say, “Your sins are forgiven.” Love that had degenerated became strong and full of life. Shallow, weak love was restored to its original function. The joy of the man on the mat walking home with his friends must have been similar to the joy I felt when I said to my parents, “I love you.”

What would I be like today if my paralyzed love had not been healed? I know that a paralyzed love produces the most awful effects of anger, resentment, grudge, and jealousy—emotions that slowly destroy the soul. As I exercise my love in witnessing, Bible study, and prayer, I know it will remain strong and healthy. I praise the Lord for personally saying to me, “Your sins are forgiven. Take up your mat and go home.”

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Keith Trumbo is helping to plant a new church in the St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A., area.