Monday 7 July, 2014

8 Jesus came down from the mountainside. Large crowds followed him. 2 A man who had a skin disease came and got down on his knees in front of Jesus. He said, “Lord, if you are willing to make me ‘clean,’ you can do it.” 3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing to do it,” he said. “Be ‘clean’!” Right away the man was healed of his skin disease. 4 Then Jesus said to him, “Don’t tell anyone. Go and show yourself to the priest. Offer the gift Moses commanded. It will be a witness to them.”

This man that comes to Jesus was in Jewish law unclean. That meant that anybody who touched him at all would become unclean. And yet, in verse 3, what does Jesus do – in order to heal the man, He touches the man. What is inspiring to me is that the act that everyone around Jesus would have been shocked by is the very act that changes the man’s life.

Jesus example here teaches me to be very careful which voice I allow to determine my decisions and actions. There are 3 voices that Jesus could have listened to – the voice of desperation (the leper), the voice of fear (the crowd), or the voice of faith (His Father). He listened to the last voice, and turned desperation into hope, fear into wonder, and demonstrated that God is a God of great love and power. I want to be so aware of my Father’s voice, that the other voices don’t confuse me and cause me to shy away from making firm decisions and courses of action.

Lord, I thank you that Jesus stands as my ultimate example of walking in relationship with you Father. I thank you that by the Holy Spirit, I am able to clearly hear your voice Father and walk in obedience to your will, no matter what other emotional forces swirl around me. And I thank you that in the power of your Holy Spirit, I am able to put you on Glorious display in my acts of obedience. Bring it on!

Written by Ps. Rob Waugh