Saturday, February 25, 2017
Mark 1:40-45 Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, "If You are willing, You can make me clean." Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed." As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once, and said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction.
CLEANSED BY GOD
We don't come to Jesus in prayer and worship primarily for the earthly things He can give to us. For example, we read our devotion every morning primarily to hear His Word and to receive the assurance of the forgiveness of sins in that Word. We seek first the kingdom of God, and after that we look to God for all the rest of the things that He can give us if He is willing.
But we know without a doubt the will of God regarding our salvation. "The blood of Jesus Christ [God's] Son cleanses us from all sin..." (1 John 1:7). Through Christ we stand before God and are declared to be cleansed, not guilty of sin because Christ fulfilled the Law for us and paid for our sin. This forgiveness is a testimony to all people that Christ is who He claims to be, true God as well as true Man, that He could and did do what only God can do, cleansing the unclean, adopting us, who were children of wrath, to be the children of God.
Jesus had such compassion for us that He took care of our greatest, most impossible problem. Surely, He is able to fulfill the rest of our requests. He is able and will give us answer according to His will, for He is our God and Savior, who is not only willing, but able to help us, as He has shown in cleansing us from our sin.
