Something for Saturday
And Jesus put forth His hand and touched him, saying, I will, be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Matthew 8:3
A SeedSowers campaign is a wonderful event, as young people and others spread out through the community and distribute Gospel texts and invitations to upcoming Gospel meetings. In some campaigns, thousands of people are directly contacted, and some of those who are invited to the meetings indicate that they will attend. But very few ever do. The invitations are usually discarded or set aside and forgotten, as people have no real interest in spiritual things. How sharply their attitude of ‘I can’t be bothered’ contrasts with the Saviour’s response to the Leper’s plea: ‘I will!’ Even as the invitations go out this summer to the apathetic world, the Lord Jesus never wanes in His willingness to welcome all those who truly seek Him.
The leper freely acknowledged Jesus’ ability to heal him. His only concern was whether Jesus would be willing to undertake the task. After all, he was just a poor and unclean outcast who everybody avoided. He was a nobody, and although he desperately longed to be healed, he knew that the Lord Jesus had much greater issues on His agenda than a lowly leper. Or so he might have reasoned. But the Lord Jesus came to seek and to save just such a wretch. And He had the time, the interest, and the power to restore health to this poor leper. He has the same time, interest, and power to save sinners today.
As the Gospel goes forth, we need to pray for the lepers to show up, those who recognize their lost and helpless condition. We need to pray for people to understand that the Lord Jesus is ready and willing to save. We need to remind ourselves that we were no better than the leper when we were brought to the Saviour.
No Gospel series, no Gospel meeting, no children’s meeting, where the Gospel is clearly preached, is ever a waste of time and effort. A leper in need of cleansing just might show up. And the Lord Jesus will be just as willing to save. -Jim MacIntosh