Washed and Cleansed

Read 2 Kings 5:1 through 8:29

Hazel’s face froze in thought. My wife, Nancy, had just finished telling her, for the hundredth time that afternoon, God would forgive a lifetime of her sins, right there, in her living room, if she repented and apologized to God.

“That’s all?” Hazel scoffed. “Surely there’s more a person has to do.”

We could see in Hazel’s eyes the battle that raged. The Holy Spirit was palpable in that room. Eternity awaited her answer.

Naaman’s servants…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’!” (2 Kings 5:13).

Hazel’s inability to understand the simplicity of God’s love and His readiness to reconcile us to himself was not unique. Hazel, like Naaman and many others, did not believe God would heal sin’s leprous stains unless she did something hard, hurtful, or sacrificial. It was not for another year, on her deathbed, that she finally accepted the truth that so many others reject: The Lord Jesus completed the hard, hurtful, and sacrificial part for us.

Challenge for Today:
Why make salvation harder than it is? Believe God’s promise to forgive if you repent.