"A man with leprosy came and knelt before Him and said, 'Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. 'I am willing,' He said. 'Be clean!" Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy." (Matthew 8:2, 3-NIV)
I wonder why "evangelicalism" has neglected what so dominates the Gospels, "I am willing....Be clean!"
It is as though evangelicals/conservatives, or whatever one wants to call them, have selected certain religious formulae to propagate Christianity. What the Bible calls, "The faith of Jesus," however, goes way beyond our "comfort zones." Peter told Cornelius that Jesus, "went about doing good, healing all who were oppressed by the Devil." Translated into today's disparaging phrases, by those who have severely robbed humanity of the Great Biblical Message, "faith healing, and deliverance ministry."
This same selective Christianity is what I have been calling "cliche christianity." It is a religion of what certain strong personalities have said, formulated and propagated, over the years, and the masses just blindly follow. The solution to break out of this is a Church which is committed to every member reading, "the Words of God," with great frequency, allowing the Holy Spirit to do what Jesus says, "teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you."
Jesus said to the sick man, "I am willing." What is it in your life today about which you travail, wondering if "this is the will of God for my life?" Perhaps rather than attempting to reason it out, or go to the cliche books, one should go to the Bible; find out what Jesus "thinks" concerning our state. There are treasures in Jesus which only His Words can uncover. In three centuries, the Church took over the Roman Empire, because the Church was still believing what Jesus said, not the interpretations of a select few. That all changed relatively early on, however, and, as the saying goes, "the rest is history."
It is time for you and me to change history, not by some self-willed agenda or new screwy ideas, but by careful, meditative-reading, accepting and obeying Jesus', "God-Breathed," Words. Maybe instead of wondering about "the will of God," we should read to find out just what kind of "things" He has clearly shown as His will.
Father, in Jesus' Name, I have probably allowed myself to be robbed of so much you have for me because of casual, rather than listening-reading. Amen.
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
