Easy Peasy!
A reading for Wednesday, January 18, 2017: 2 Kings 5:1-17.
"If the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it?" It's an interesting question asked by the attendants of Naaman. Often it seems we want things to be difficult or challenging in order to believe that they are really effective.
Listerine and Alka Selzer taste terrible and yet are used millions of times all over the world because people believe that somehow that must make those products more effective than their competitors that taste better. We would much rather diet to extreme measures rather than just change our eating habits to things that are just better for us. The harder it is, must mean it's more effective right?
And yet when it comes to faith in God, perhaps the rule is broken. Listen to God. Do what is expected of you with kindness and compassion. Can it really be that easy? That's how it happened for Naaman, the Syrian commander who had defeated the armies of God's people. If it could work for an enemy, can it not work for those of us who love God already?
The hard part is daily persistence. It's not hard to be kind and compassionate. It's not hard even to listen for God in the daily, everyday of life. The hard part is resisting the temptation to do it ourselves. The hard part is to trust that the way of life promised by God is enough.
That's why we have each other... to keep us true to God's way. I hope Naaman was grateful not only to God, and not only to the prophet, but also to those attendants who encouraged him. Together we do the simple easy things that transform our lives and our very complicated, complex world.
Thanks be to God for easy peasy!
"If the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it?" It's an interesting question asked by the attendants of Naaman. Often it seems we want things to be difficult or challenging in order to believe that they are really effective.
Listerine and Alka Selzer taste terrible and yet are used millions of times all over the world because people believe that somehow that must make those products more effective than their competitors that taste better. We would much rather diet to extreme measures rather than just change our eating habits to things that are just better for us. The harder it is, must mean it's more effective right?
And yet when it comes to faith in God, perhaps the rule is broken. Listen to God. Do what is expected of you with kindness and compassion. Can it really be that easy? That's how it happened for Naaman, the Syrian commander who had defeated the armies of God's people. If it could work for an enemy, can it not work for those of us who love God already?
The hard part is daily persistence. It's not hard to be kind and compassionate. It's not hard even to listen for God in the daily, everyday of life. The hard part is resisting the temptation to do it ourselves. The hard part is to trust that the way of life promised by God is enough.
That's why we have each other... to keep us true to God's way. I hope Naaman was grateful not only to God, and not only to the prophet, but also to those attendants who encouraged him. Together we do the simple easy things that transform our lives and our very complicated, complex world.
Thanks be to God for easy peasy!
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