ons lack obedience.
As a parent I discovered, God did not give me kids so I could raise them. No, God gave me kids so he could raise me. It wasn’t long until the Holy Spirit began applying our parenting definition of obedience to my own life. Honestly, I certainly wasn’t perfect, but I usually managed to get the first two steps down fairly well. It was often that third step that became my downfall. I did not possess a happy heart (or for adults, a good attitude) in my attempts of obedience.
Jesus doesn’t want us to obey him merely in huge, difficult situations. Following Jesus means we also learn to obey in the countless simple acts of obedience we face every day, The Scriptures tells us that Naaman “went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God.”
Do you know why God told Naaman to do it seven times? I don’t. But it’s what God said, and Naaman did precisely that.
The results of Naaman’s humility and obedience were that “his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean” (2 Kings 5:14). Notice, Naaman was not just healed. He was also restored. His skin was not restored to the rough, calloused skin of an old warrior, but to the soft, beautiful skin of a baby.
Finally, Naaman returned to the messenger and declared, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel . . .” (2 Kings 5:15).
By putting aside his expectations and pride, Naaman’s simple act of obedience resulted in a breakthrough. Not only was his skin changed, but he changed from being an angry general to being a worshipper.
What simple act of obedience is God calling you to do?