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From A Distance
When I first read these verses the word that stood out the most was distance. It’s no wonder these men asked for help in the name of Jesus from a distance. They were probably used to being treated as outsiders by their peers. Most likely they didn’t feel worthy enough to come close to Jesus and ask for his help or healing. They probably feared rejection.
I believe this still happens today, and I know it I have definitely called on Jesus from a distance. I think we all can feel like we are living in spiritual leprosy at times-feeling rejected and like an outsider-when we struggle with different sins or being far from God. I know there has been times in my life when I wanted so badly to be close to God, but still only called on him from a distance. We all need to remember the God wants us to draw near to Him even when feeling this way. He wants to heal us, and does not want us to hold Him at a distance.
I have surely felt like a spiritual lepor. Thinking that I need to clean up my act before I can approach Jesus. Or asking God to take a struggle away from me so that I can then start to get close to him. That is society talk. No shoes, no shirt, no service. Get yourself right before you can get anything in return. Society often puts parameters on who can recieve help. Although there is no leprosy in our community, I’m sure there are people that we treat like lepors. And by “we”, I need to say “I”.
I think you hit the mark on America and they way we treat each other so we project that on God. We only accept people who are pretty, talented, productive, popular, and pretty much perfect in every way. When you aren’t you are kept at a distence until you are “clean”. It shouldn’t be that way at church. How many of us look for the loney the down cast the outsider to talk to on Sunday mornig, at work, or in our neighborhood. Rebuke, repent, forgive, ask for increased faith we and by that I mean I need to open my eyes to the lepords in our world and bring them closer to the ony Jesus they may meet Us.
I can definitely relate to the lepors, feeling like they weren’t clean enough to approach Jesus. But I also think that they underestimated Jesus by not approaching him, just like I do. It’s a symptom of focusing on myself and not on Him. Thanks Jen.
I have recently become aware of how much the culture we live in determines how we view God. These men knew what was expected in their culture. We know what is expected in our culture. Is there cultural blindness that keeps us from getting too close to Jesus? I know I have been there. I pray there is nothing – cultural or otherwise – to keep me from that closeness.
Jen,
Thanks for feeding us today.
The devil will always try to convince us that we are too dirty for Jesus but the truth is that the Jesus wants fellowship with us so much that he gave his life for us.