Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Playing by the Rules”
Our Bible verse for today: “Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, ‘My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.” 2 Kings 5:20 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “Don’t deceive yourself”.
It’s amazing to me how easily we deceive ourselves. If we want to do something bad enough we can always find a way to rationalize the decision in our own minds. Our ability to deceive ourselves is virtually limitless.
Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the great prophet of God, is an excellent example. You may remember the story. Naaman was the commander of the armies of Aram. He was a great warrior and highly trusted advisor to the king. But Naaman had leprosy. Word came that there was a mighty prophet of God in Israel named Elisha who could heal Naaman and so, Naaman went in search of healing.
Long story short, Naaman ended up at Elisha’s doorstep and the prophet did indeed heal him. Naaman was so grateful that he offered Elisha valuable gifts as a show of appreciation, but Elisha refused all payment. He wanted Naaman to see his healing as a gift from God and not as a service he had purchased at a price.
But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha who had witnessed all this, was disturbed by his master’s refusal to accept payment. So after Naaman left the region Gehazi took off after him, tracked him down, and told him a lie. He said that Elisha had changed his mind and would indeed accept the gifts. So Naaman gave the gifts of silver and clothing to Gehazi, who then kept it all for himself. When Elisha discovered what Gehazi had done and confronted him about it, Gehazi lied to Elisha as well.
Somehow in his mind Gehazi had rationalized his behavior and convinced himself it was ok to lie to Naaman and to Elisha, and then to keep something that did not properly belong to him. But, there were consequences. There always are. The leprosy that had been cleansed from Naaman broke out on Gehazi, and Gehazi ended up spending the rest of his life as a leper.
The fact is that we can’t fool God, and there are always consequences for disobeying Him. Like Gehazi we may think we’re being clever, we may find ways to deceive ourselves and rationalize our behavior in our own mind, but God isn’t fooled, and in time there will be a price to pay.
Make no mistake, God will not be mocked and He will not tolerate or ignore disobedience from His people. No matter the clever rationalizations you devise to try to convince yourself and others that there really are good reasons for your unbiblical actions, God is not fooled. And there will be consequences.
Don’t deceive yourself. Play by the rules – God’s rules – or in the end, like Gehazi, you will find yourself wishing that you had.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 