Thursday, July 05, 2007

Lectionary Thought for week ending July 8th

2 Kings 5:1-14
Take a fresh look at the healing of Naaman in this weeks lectionary passage.  
After coming to see Elisha and being told to dip in the Jordan 7 times, Naaman becomes mad and walks away.  
To which his officers reasoned with him and said, "If the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, would you have done it?  So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, "Go and wash and be cured."
How many times do we look for the complex answer/solution and miss the readily accessible one?  Complexity provides a smoke-screen from which accountability is rarely achieved.  This is one of the reasons we take complex over simple.  We also might think that the straightforward solution is too easy to work.  But it worked for Naaman.  It worked for Peter who chose to repent and make amends with Christ rather than run and hide after his denial.  It worked for Paul who accepted the forgiveness offered and faced the very people he persecuted and won their trust.  And it will work for us if we will face things head-on and do it quickly.
What is it that you struggle with today?  Are you taking a very long road around something when a more direct route would be better?  Are you running from or running toward the solution?

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AUTHOR: Todd Nelson TITLE: Lectionary Thought for week ending July 8th DATE: 7/05/2007 08:59:00 PM ----- BODY:
2 Kings 5:1-14
Take a fresh look at the healing of Naaman in this weeks lectionary passage.  
After coming to see Elisha and being told to dip in the Jordan 7 times, Naaman becomes mad and walks away.  
To which his officers reasoned with him and said, "If the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, would you have done it?  So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, "Go and wash and be cured."
How many times do we look for the complex answer/solution and miss the readily accessible one?  Complexity provides a smoke-screen from which accountability is rarely achieved.  This is one of the reasons we take complex over simple.  We also might think that the straightforward solution is too easy to work.  But it worked for Naaman.  It worked for Peter who chose to repent and make amends with Christ rather than run and hide after his denial.  It worked for Paul who accepted the forgiveness offered and faced the very people he persecuted and won their trust.  And it will work for us if we will face things head-on and do it quickly.
What is it that you struggle with today?  Are you taking a very long road around something when a more direct route would be better?  Are you running from or running toward the solution?
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