Christ Leads The Way

“He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” – Mark 16:16

Hey, friends! I hope that you are well. Thank you for reading and following my blog. I appreciate your show of support. And as always, I appreciate you!

Have you ever gotten angry at God? I mean, have you looked in His Word and seen what the Lord tells you to do and gotten angry over it? It may not have been a fierce rage but more so indignance at what His expectations are for you? In 2 Kings 5, we see Naaman the commander of the Syrian army and a leper, in essence, become angry with what God told him to do.

Naaman heard that the Lord’s prophet Elisha could heal him. So he went to him. Elisha told Naaman to go and dip himself in the Jordan River seven times and he would be healed. “But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, ‘Indeed, I said to myself, “He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.” Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?’ So he turned and went away in a rage” (2 Kings 5:11-12).

Naaman was angry because he expected something different, and he, basically, didn’t want to do what was asked of him. Fortunately, his servants talked to him and got him to change his mind. Naaman went and dipped in the Jordan seven times, as he was instructed, and he was then healed of leprosy. If Naaman had not dipped seven times, but five or six, do you think he would have been healed? What if he had dipped in a river other than the Jordan River – would he have been following the command that came from God through Elisha? Naaman had to do exactly what was asked of him in order to receive his healing.

Are we sometimes like Naaman? Do we become angry with what the Lord has asked us to do? Have we done what we need to do in order to be saved? Jesus said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). Some purport that one only needs to believe in order to be saved. But that’s not what Jesus said. If you just believe and are not baptized, you are not doing what God commands. And if you are baptized only, say, as an infant, and do not believe, then you cannot be saved. Both baptism and belief are necessary for salvation.

We must follow God’s commands exactly how He gives them in order to receive the blessings that He has for our lives. Let’s not become angry or indignant over what the Lord has commanded us to do, as if it is somehow beneath us. If we want to obtain the blessing that the Lord has in store for us, we must do what He says.

May God bless you and keep you is my prayer.