I'm working on my next book, Reaching for Wonder, and wanted to share this little bit with you to encourage you when you're facing doubts, or fear that God may not hear and act.
This is from the chapter about the leper who comes to Jesus and says:
“If you want, you can make me clean.”
Mark 1:40-45
And Jesus answers him ...
EXCERPT
In the face of doubt and fear, Jesus speaks not a condemnation,
but instead two simple words (in the Greek) that dispel both doubt and fear.
This first is, when translated, “I am willing.” And the second is, “Be
cleansed.”
When we are at our
lowest, when faith fails, when it hurts to try to hope anymore, God’s answer to
us is not disappointment or guilt or shame. His answer is, “I am willing.” He is willing to make us whole. He loves us
enough to not just heal, but to make clean.
I love the deeper
meaning of the word “to cleanse” in the Greek. It not only means to cure a
person from an “unclean” disease, but it also means to free from faults, to
free from the doubt we see in “if.” It means to consecrate, to dedicate, to
make complete for God’s use.
That is what Jesus
intends to offer us. Not simply a cure for the external need, but a deep soul
cleansing that takes our “if” and transforms it into wonder.
He is willing. The
question is, are we?
2 comments:
Wow---so much more than our superficial way of thinking----we just want Jesus to take away the nusence that bothers us---thank you for the awesome thoughts on more than healing that Christ wants to do for us!!!
Thanks for commenting! It's been a tough week around here and I was personally encouraged by revisiting these words. :-)
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