Pastor Elie Hamuli
Today, let’s talk about God’s willingness to help us, even when our experiences might suggest otherwise. The Bible teaches us that God is good, and it’s essential to understand Him based on His Word rather than our own ideas. Yet, many people’s reluctance to the willingness and goodness of God remains shaped by incorrect information about God. This may in turn manifest as guilt at the thought of approaching the merciful throne of God.
In Matthew 8:1-4, there’s a story about Jesus healing a man with leprosy, a disease often seen as a symbol of sin. Just like leprosy harms the body, sin affects us spiritually, causing guilt, shame, and isolation. But Jesus, knowing the man’s loneliness, approached him despite his condition, showing us that God is willing to meet us in our struggles.
The leper must have heard something from Jesus that gave him the courage to freely approach Him, offering his worship.
In light of what Jesus was teaching in Matthew 7: 1-5, the leper heard and gained confidence that Christ would not judge him by focusing on his flaws. This means that he heard something that gave him the courage to come closer to Jesus. Therefore, the way we approach God will depend on what we know about Him, hence, it is important to have the right knowledge of God.
Two sources of knowledge are important to note: information and experience or revelation. Knowledge from information can either be right or incorrect, while knowledge from revelation is more truthful information.
Having the right knowledge of God, based on truth, requires building your faith in your relationship with God. This gives us the foundation of firsthand information as seen in Job 42:5. As a result of this relationship, we soon bathe in the Love of God setting us free from the ‘disease of sin’. Ultimately, the right knowledge about God is embodied in the person of Jesus Christ. It is impossible to speak of God without speaking of Jesus. In John 14:6-7, the apostles pleaded with Jesus to reveal the Father to them. In response, Jesus declared that He is God in that seeing Him is seeing the Father.
In the New Covenant of God with His people, Colossians 2:9 reveals to us that Jesus Christ is the fullness of God in the body. He reveals the Father but demonstrates also how to be a son to the Father, reconciling both. Therefore, the right information about God begins in Christ Jesus.
We learn from the story of the leper that Jesus being the fullness of God represents and portrays the nature of God in His entirety through healing and restoration too. Knowledge of the nature of God should not end there, but as with the leper, it must translate into knowing that Jesus Christ is also willing to heal, restore, deliver, save, and respond to any need that may seem too big for us. When our past clings to us and label us as disqualified, Jesus Christ in His Willingness still reaches out to restore our dignity and humanity.
To sum up, the story of the leper serves as a powerful analogy to the segregating nature of sin, highlighting the importance of having the right knowledge about God in shaping our attitudes and reminding us that God is faithful and willing to do good, even turning what was meant for evil for our own good.
Therefore, we should not allow negative thoughts to fill our minds but through faith, let the transformative power of God’s love revealed through Jesus fill us, knowing that He is present, capable, and willing to do good.
