Word@Work 015 - Mark 1:40-42
Published: Fri, 11/30/07
Word@Work from BeaconLight
Read Mark 1:40-42 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured. (NIV)
Most people, having thought a little about God, might agree that He probably could do anything. However the majority never ask Him. Either they see their need as irrelevant to Him or that He is too inaccessible. More likely they do not see Him as someone who might be approached, still less begged, to meet their need. They simply do not believe that He would be willing to help them.
That is why it is the desperate who have more of God's blessings, simply because they know they have nowhere else to go! The polite circle of self-sufficiency, with which the western world has been plagued, says that our salvation is in our own hands. In most businesses, a divine solution to a problem is scorned as a lack of character or resolve or creative imagination. Begging Jesus for help would be thought of as being despicably weak.
The Bible record shows that the people asked God for help when they ran out of other options. But their stories show Jesus does not have to be the last resort. The sooner we ask, the sooner He acts. As we grow in trusting Jesus, we know that God is more than willing to make the outcast clean and the penitent will never be turned away. Although the world will laugh, in the Kingdom of God, crying out for help is the essential weakness that God requires in us, before He will act in strength.
The experience of believers in every age is the same. We need to practise our begging before God. The time will come when others will see how graciously Jesus responds to honest helplessness; and our testimony of God's mercy will encourage others to do the same.
Prayer: Blessed Father God, help me to cast off my self-sufficiency and confess my weakness so that I may receive the help I need from You today. In Christ's Name, Amen.
You can read more of this Bible passage online - in English and other languages - share the Bible with your friends!
Most people, having thought a little about God, might agree that He probably could do anything. However the majority never ask Him. Either they see their need as irrelevant to Him or that He is too inaccessible. More likely they do not see Him as someone who might be approached, still less begged, to meet their need. They simply do not believe that He would be willing to help them.
That is why it is the desperate who have more of God's blessings, simply because they know they have nowhere else to go! The polite circle of self-sufficiency, with which the western world has been plagued, says that our salvation is in our own hands. In most businesses, a divine solution to a problem is scorned as a lack of character or resolve or creative imagination. Begging Jesus for help would be thought of as being despicably weak.
The Bible record shows that the people asked God for help when they ran out of other options. But their stories show Jesus does not have to be the last resort. The sooner we ask, the sooner He acts. As we grow in trusting Jesus, we know that God is more than willing to make the outcast clean and the penitent will never be turned away. Although the world will laugh, in the Kingdom of God, crying out for help is the essential weakness that God requires in us, before He will act in strength.
The experience of believers in every age is the same. We need to practise our begging before God. The time will come when others will see how graciously Jesus responds to honest helplessness; and our testimony of God's mercy will encourage others to do the same.
Prayer: Blessed Father God, help me to cast off my self-sufficiency and confess my weakness so that I may receive the help I need from You today. In Christ's Name, Amen.
You can read more of this Bible passage online - in English and other languages - share the Bible with your friends!
W@W015 | Word@Work 2002, 2007 © Dr Paul Adams | Provided by BeaconLight
Contact us at wordatwork@beaconlight.co.uk
Your next Word@Work will be sent on
Contact us at wordatwork@beaconlight.co.uk
Your next Word@Work will be sent on