We are continuing the themes of sharing the love of God, the greatest commandment, and you are closer than you think. In reflecting on the story of the boy borrowing the car, and his dad wanting a loaf of bread, the boy probably was not purposely disobedient. I think he wanted to please his father. At the same time, he was excited about using the car. In his excitement, he was disobedient to his father who asked him to bring home a loaf of bread. He did everything that he thought would be pleasing to his dad, but did not do the one thing his dad asked him to do.
I was thinking about how we can equate that to our own life. I was reflecting about how hard, if you can apply hard to God, it is for Him, when God wants to achieve something through someone, whether it be a Christian or a non-Christian. It seems to be that if what He wants to accomplish is a thing that would achieve a lot of recognition, financial gain, or other activities which would apparently give a person gain of some sort, God would have no problem finding people to do that.
It seems easy for us to want to do things that will get us recognition. The Apostle Paul had the same problem. Basically, he said that it was easy for him to do the things he did not want to do (spiritually) and hard to do the things he wanted to do (spiritually). I wonder how hard it must be for God to get someone to do things that get little recognition. How hard is it for God to get a person to speak to another person who may have a need? It could be someone you know or someone you just meet as you go (McDonalds, grocery store, work, etc.) If you see someone who seems to have a need, someone who looks like they have had a hard day, perhaps a kind word or a smile, or a helping hand in some way would help that person to have a better day.
In 2 Kings 5:1-19, there is a story about a man who shows us our human nature of wanting to do something great, but not willing to do something small. The story is about Naaman, who was a Captain in the army, a valiant warrior, and well respected and honored by the King of Aram. The problem was that he had leprosy. In one of his raids, he had captured a girl from Israel and made her a slave to his wife. Seeing Naaman’s physical condition and wanting to be a help to him and his wife, the slave girl said, “I wish that my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure his leprosy.” When Naaman heard this, he told the king. The king sent him to Samaria with many presents so that Naaman could be cured. But when he went to see the prophet (Elisha), he did not even come out to meet Naaman. Elisha sent a messenger to him saying, “Go wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you and you shall be clean.” Naaman became furious that Elisha did not come out to meet him, and then sent word for him to wash in the Jordan River. “Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, ‘My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, wash and be clean?’ ‘So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. When he returned to the man of God with all his company, and came and stood before him, he said, ‘Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel…”
In Naaman, we can see that a small thing can become a great blessing. Many times we do these little things for others without realizing how pleasing they are to God.
One thing that is exciting about this story is that when Naaman is obedient, he is blessed by being healed, and his eyes are opened to see the one true God. By his example of obedience, others come to see what happens when a person is obedient to God. Also, others can see that God doesn’t ask you to do something that is too hard for you. He asks you to do the things He equips you to do. Don’t despise small beginnings.
What little things has God been asking you to do lately that can ease someone else's burden or brighten their day? Until we get to heaven, we will never know how impactful a smile or a kind word was to someone in need. In 1965, a song was made popular by Jackie De Shannon and later by Dionne Warwick. It was called, "What the World Needs Now is Love". That is so true. So in your daily activities please be generous with a kind word, a word of encouragement, a kind act, or just a warm smile. God bless you.
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