“Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 2 Kings 5:13

Naaman was a commander for the armies of the king of Aram, and was well liked. He caught a case of leprosy, and there was no healer in his land that could help him. The king of sent him to Israel because he’d heard of their God and of his prophet Elisha.

When Naaman got there, Elisha wouldn’t even come out to see him. Naaman, used to being an important man, was insulted. Elisha did, however, send out a messenger with the command for Naaman to wash himself in the Jordan River seven times and he would be cleansed of his disease.

Naaman was not pleased at all. He there was going to be a show. He had expected Elisha would come out and call on the name of his God and have the leprous skin healed instantly. Instead, he was told – by a mere messenger – to go and wash in the Jordan, which even to this day is a dirty river, not the kind of river that makes anyone or anything clean.

The servants of Naaman knew their master. They knew that if Elisha had told him to run a marathon, scale a mountain, and slay a dragon, that he would have done it without hesitation. But this simple task seemed somehow beneath him. Of course, in the end, Naaman has a change of heart, washes in the Jordan seven times, and is healed.

We can be the same way. We think that for something to be worth while, or for it to make a difference, it has to be a big thing. It has to be the slain dragon or the conquered mountain. But when we take a serious look at our lives we discover its the small things that have made the biggest impact.

Maybe it was the teacher that saw promise in you and pushed you to try harder. The pastor who saw the call of God on your life for pastoral ministry and said something about it. The stranger ahead of you who paid for your meal at the drive through. The person who invited you to church, and you finally decided to say “yes” and wound up staying for decades.

The small things we do will add up to big things in eternity. I invite you to consider that this week. Push yourself to think of the little things you can do that will change someone’s day, or week, or year, or whole life… just by your obedience to the little things God has put in your path to do.

Dipping in the river,
Pastor Mike

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