12 One day in one of the villages there was a man covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus he fell down before him in prayer and said, "If you want to, you can cleanse me."
13 Jesus put out his hand, touched him, and said, "I want to. Be clean." Then and there his skin was smooth, the leprosy gone.
Andy talked about this today at church and before he said it, I was thinking that this very short little blurb from the gospels really is the picture of all of our conversion stories. The NIV version has the leper saying, "If you are willing, you can make me clean," with Jesus responding, "I am willing."Isn't that just the heart of the matter? Jesus is willing to change us both inside and out. In those days, leprosy was seen as a horrible skin disease, of course originating inside the body. Not only was the man in this story healed emotionally (inwardly), but experienced an obvious change outwardly in the physical sense. Jesus changed him tangibly that day in just a matter of moments. He can do the same for us when we place our faith in him. I know this is oversimplifying things, but sometimes it's the simplest things that can be so meaningful.
Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.
~Saint Augustine
1 comment:
Yes, and I'm so glad He is willing to save us! He is so good! Thanks for the encouragement that Josiah isn't the only one who has swallowed something besides food :)
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