Samuel D. High
sdhigh@aristotle.net
-----Original Message-----
From: "Apostle Tom" <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Sent: Sun, 23 Sep 2007 21:25:05 -0500
To: pressingon@hotmail.com
Subject: Morning Manna (Sept. 24); BP: Mt. 8:1-4; RBTTY: Gal. 3; Song of Sol. 4-5
September 24 “Cleansed”
“When He was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.
And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped Him, saying, ‘Lord, if You
will, You can make me clean.’ And Jesus put forth His hand and touched him,
saying, ‘I will; be clean.’ And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.”
Matthew 8:1-2
Only He can cleanse the condemned conscience and darkened heart of sin.
There are a lot of things that burden us in life: Family problems. .
.financial problems . . .emotional problems. . .physical problems, etc.
But, none of these can compare to that nagging, painful, piercing problem of
a guilty conscience and sin-ravaged soul.
The leper in today’s Manna knew he was unclean. Every morning when he
awoke, the first thing he looked at were those hideous, white, ulcerated,
runny sores that covered his body. And, every morning as he went outside he
knew it’d be another day of having to stay away from home and shout
“Unclean! Unclean!” with upraised hands as others approached him—warning
them of his terrible plague so they could steer clear of him.
Oh, how great his loneliness! How great, most likely, his sense of
utter self-contempt and self-condemnation because of this bodily affliction.
Yet, it was this very sense of desperation that caused this particular
leper to draw near to Jesus and worship Him.
We’re not told how close he came to our Lord; perhaps he broke the law
by coming closer than the 50-yard distance required—for how else could he
have presented his mournful petition to our Lord? Or, perhaps he maintained
the necessary distance and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, if You will,
You can make me clean.”
Regardless, what’s important is that this wretched creature first
“worshipped Him” (Grk. “proskuneo”—“to crouch, prostrate one’s self in
homage, to kiss like a dog licking its master’s hand, etc.”). And, it was
this act of “consecrated contrition” that likely touched Jesus’ tender heart
of compassion—in addition to the poor man’s humble words of “If You would,
You can make me clean.” He had no doubt. He felt no need of having to
pester or plead with our Lord. The leper showed true reverence for Christ
by appealing to His will—and so should we when we present our petitions to
Him.
Although the leper’s need was physical healing and cleansing, this
Manna also applies to everyone of us—for, who of us, did not at one time
need our consciences cleansed from guilt and our hearts from sin’s dark
stain? How wonderfully clean Jesus’ blood makes us when we claim Him as our
only hope (Heb. 9:14, 22)! Hallelujah!!
And, then there are those times when our sins of commission and
omission dirty our robes of righteousness, robbing us of His joy in us and
our fellowship with Him. It’s during those times that we must, once again,
run to Christ. . .confessing our sin. . .and asking Him to “forgive us our
sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I Jn. 1:9). May the Holy
Spirit help us today to never forget what a great price our Lord paid so
that we might be cleansed from sin and consecrated for His service.
_________________________________________________________________
It’s the Windows Live™ Hotmail® you love — on your phone!
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/mobilehotmail/default.mspx?WT.mc_ID=MobileHMTagline2
No comments:
Post a Comment