November 16, 2008

But his servants caught up with him and said, “Father, if the prophet had asked you to do something hard and heroic, wouldn’t you have done it? So why not this simple ‘wash and be clean’?”  2 Kings 5:13

This is the story of Naaman and Elisha.  This story reminds me that salvation is so simple that it is often hard for us to understand.  Naaman was insulted that Elisha had not asked him to do more in order to cure his affliction.

Why do we also have this same reaction?  Wash and be clean…but we want it to be something much more.  In fact, we try to make it more complicated to ease our own conscience and sense of independence.   We want to be to source of our salvation thru our “heroic actions” rather than simply following instructions and accepting what has been done for us.

This is why children often understand God and his character better than adults.  No self imposed meanings or actions; just simple acceptance of our gift and appreciation for the God that gave it to us.