Christians Are Like Naaman Naaman was a Syrian who went to Elisha to be healed of leprosy. But when Elisha sent a message, commanding him to dip seven times in the Jordan, he became furious and said, “Behold, I thought. . . .” The Story of Naaman Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean.” But Naaman was furious and went away and said, “Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.’ Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. (2 Ki. 5:10-12) Naaman Wanted Something Different Today, many people disobey God because they want something different. Some people want religions requiring them to do great things to prove their salvation, like speaking in tongues. Other people want religions filled with pomp, where people grandiosely wave their hands, and make a spectacle of themselves and others. Naaman Realized the Error of His Thinking 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’?” (2 Ki. 5:13) As a result, Naaman repented and obeyed God’s command. 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. (2 Ki. 5:14) A Lesson From Naaman And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” (Lk. 4:24-27) Naaman was a man who sought out God to be healed. He rejected God’s command at first, but with little convincing repented and obeyed. Then after he was healed, he sought to worship God, promising to only sacrifice to the Lord from that day forward. While teaching in Nazareth, Jesus tells the people that Israelites could have had the same blessing as Naaman, if they were like him – sought God, listened to His word, repented, and obeyed. As Christians, We Want What God Wants We learn from Jesus, as we study His word.
We want to be like Jesus.
We want to do what God commands.
We want to please God.
Christians Are Like Naaman
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