Have you even been handed a long list of "dos and don'ts"? Do not steal. Do not covet. Those are a couple from the ten commandments. Perhaps you've heard "do not drink" or "do not gamble". Be this. Be that. You can't do this and you can't do that. And then the reactions are priceless: Well, then I'll never be a Christian! This is not what Christianity should be about! That type of thinking is reminiscent of the Pharisees.
God is pretty simple with his requirements. Let's take a look at the story of Naaman. He was a very powerful man, yet he suffered from leprosy. He took the advice of a servant girl and sought out Elisha, a prophet of God. Let's read 2 Kings 5:9-12.
So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed." But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel?" So he turned and went off in a rage.
Naaman was upset because Elisha didn't do what Naaman had imagined. He imagined some mystical, magical performance and when he didn't get what he had imagined, he was ready to walk away from a cure. How quickly do we dismiss the simplicity of God's commands because it doesn't look like Hollywood?
Let's continue reading in 2 Kings 5:13-14.
Naaman's servants went to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, 'Wash and be cleansed.'!" So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.
How simple, yet, extraordinary. Let's look at Micah 6:8b. "And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Look at Matthew 22:37-40. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
That last sentence is what really explains it. All the Law and the Prophets hand on these two commandments. If you love God and you love your neighbor, then you won't steal from them. You won't covet what they have. If you love God, then everything else will fall into place. If we love God, then we will keep His commandments. So, instead of trying to keep tallying the dos and don'ts, just concentrate on loving God. Concentrate on acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly.
Over the next few weeks, I will post blogs that explain exactly what those three things mean.
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