I was up early this morning walking with my beautiful wife and we were talking about life transformation and what it costs. In particular, as I have written earlier on this blog, I am on a journey to lose 60 pounds. I had ambitious goals of being done by now, but I found as I got started that there were some “inner man” kind of issues that had to be dealt with first. So I’m back on it again, and headed to a strong finish. I’ll keep you posted on that at points of interest.
Thinking about the cost of life transformation, my mind went back to the biblical story of Naaman. In 2 Kings 5, we learn about this man who was a successful military leader with one big problem – he had leprosy. He heard about a prophet in Israel who could do miracles so he went to him to get healed. When the prophet told him to go and dip in a muddy river 7 times, Naaman got angry. This is what it says in verses 11 and 12 of 2 Kings 5 (New Living Translation):
‘But Naaman became angry and stalked away. “I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!” he said. “I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me! Aren’t the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than any of the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn’t I wash in them and be healed?” So Naaman turned and went away in a rage.’
Thankfully, his servants had enough courage to confront him in the next three verses:
‘But his officers tried to reason with him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be cured!’” So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child’s, and he was healed!”‘
Here’s what I’m thinking….in some area of our lives, most of us are like Naaman. We want God to do something for us, but we want it on our terms. We want to be healthy, but we want to go to the church and have someone “wave their hands over us” in prayer to be healed, or we want to go see a doctor and take a pill to be healed. But I believe God is saying “I want to heal you, but you have take some responsibility too!” Does God heal? Yes! But He has also brought people into our lives to give us the truth about health, and that is what we don’t want to hear. We don’t want to have to forgive others and let go of bitterness and grudges. We don’t want to have to change the way we eat. We don’t want to change our routine so that we get up and move. We want to do things our way and still get the desired outcome. I’m sorry, but I just don’t believe it works that way.
The same thing goes for money. I believe in tithing and being generous. But I don’t believe it will make me rich. I believe it positions me for success, but I have to accept personal responsibility for the way I spend my money and the amount that I save and invest. This could go on and on. The point is this – God has already done everything necessary for us to be saved, healed, set free, and blessed. The REAL question is, are YOU AND I going to do our part to tap into His power for true life transformation?
I welcome your comments.
It seems to me that Naaman is a bit arrogant since he at first believes “his” way of being healed is any better than that of what the prophet told him. It’s interesting though that he gave in so quickly after thinking the solution was ludicrous. He couldn’t listen to the prophet whom he sought, and then turned and took advice from his servants! What did they know? Yet he listened to THEIR advice rather than a man of God. Then his faith was based off of what the good o’l boys told him rather than what he was actually seeking…or maybe they just confirmed the Prophet’s words and were used by God… hmmm… definitely some thought provoking actions from all the people in this story.
But the point is clear, we have our healing, stability, happiness in front of us and the road may seem foreign and not exactly the way we would do it, but that’s just it. I love how God’s way of settling the situation is so out of the ordinary. If we could rationalize and work our way into our own health and freedom, we wouldn’t need God. But oh contrare! We do!!
I beleive that our treasures are not always earthly things. When we come to the point that we see the difference between possessions and blessings, then we can truly see God work in our lives. Earthly things pass away but God’s gifts endure forever.