A Christian Response to Religious Accommodation Requests for Beards

Religious accommodation has been a hot topic in the last few years without much effort to deny it or discern if it’s helpful. Now that we’ve had some time to look back on what these requests accomplished it has become clear that in many cases there was no spiritual benefit to the requestor, nor discernment in the approving authorities.

I am not blameless, not in the least, having helped to push through my fair share of religious accommodations. Most were not from the Judeo-Christian foundation, but some were, and in the last few years, especially the last few months, God has shown me several things from the scriptures that I want to write down for future reference and posterity.

While the following can apply to any follower of the Bible and the one true God, I am basing my observations on the Bible, not Jewish tradition or the Talmud or history, so it may or may not resonate with those who have added to the Hebrew scriptures. I’ll reference some historical figures here, but they’re to buttress the argument, not to act as the foundation. This article is written from a Baptist (Protestant/Evangelical/Confessional/Calvinistic) perspective.

Service Before Self

The first thing I want to say is that most religious accommodation requests should never have been submitted. I base this on the principal of laying down our rights for the privilege of serving our fellow man. Paul surrendered his rights for the blessing of preaching the gospel,

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my workmanship in the Lord?...Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?...If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others have this rightful claim on you, do we not even more?

Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ…

But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision…for thought I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. ~ 1 Corinthians 9:1,3-5, 7, 11-12, 15 (emphasis mine)

That’s definitive for me; the idea that religious freedom is meant to serve an individual is crazy. I like religious freedom and the First Amendment; it has done far more good than bad, but individual religious accommodation requests destroy service before self. It'd be easy to still uphold religious freedom on a much larger scale: If you hold to a religion that requires you not to eat meat, put it on your official record and be instantly afforded an option to purchase food somewhere other than the dining facility that caters predominantly to the vast majority of people who have no qualms about eating what it is serving.

If you are a member of a religion that highly recommends beards but doesn't mandate them, you're either going to need to speak to the ruling board of the religion and get them to change their traditions, or you're going to have to admit that "highly recommended" means optional.

If you're against war but a member of a church that isn't against war (think Alvin York), then conform your beliefs to your supposed spiritual authority, expect to be treated by the tenets your religion beliefs, or find a religion that aligns with your beliefs.

If you’re not convinced by scripture, consider these quotes:

Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country. ~ John Fitzegerald Kennedy

Let good citizens prefer the public good to their own private interest... For a citizen who consults only his own disgusts or profits is a parasite upon the commonwealth. ~ Cicero

No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to risk his life, in a great cause. ~ Theodore Roosevelt

Defending True Religious Accommodation

Sometimes there is a place for a religious accommodation, and I want to emphasize that there is a time to say, “whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20) and “we must obey God rather than men” (Acts 4:29).

But, most of the requests are optional and are not matters of spiritual fidelity. If we treat all requests as valid, then we cheapen the real wrestlings of men like Desmond Doss and entire religions that served in non-combat roles, accomplishing wonderful things for the service of the United States. We need people like them so that if the government asks us to bow before idols or wage unjust wars or pray to anyone other than the living God, we have legal precedent and past wisdom to fight for God’s righteousness and his calling in our lives.

Hugh Latimer is famous for preaching an incredibly harsh message to King Henry VIII and being threatened with his life if he didn’t recant by the following Sunday. The very next Sunday he preached the same sermon with renewed fervor. Before preaching he asked himself aloud,

Hugh Latimer, dost thou know before whom thou art this day to speak? To the high and mighty monarch, the king's most excellent majesty, who can take away thy life if thou offendest; therefore take heed that thou speakest not a word that may displease!

But then consider well, Hugh, dost thou not know from whence thou comest; upon whose message thou art sent? Even by the great and mighty God! Who is all present! And who beholdeth all thy ways! And who is able to cast thy soul into hell! Therefore, take care that thou deliverest thy message faithfully. ~ Hugh Latimer

After the sermon Henry, instead of executing Latimer, laughed out loud and remarked that he wished he had more ministers with such conviction and integrity towards God.

In this case we must whole heartedly follow the United States Marine Corps Motto: Semper Fidelis, or Always Faithful. Most of our religious accommodation requests have been about fidelity to ourselves, not our God nor to our country. We’ve expended tremendous time and effort for individuals who were just trying to be served, and this is not right. No wonder so few were helped by this process, even when their requests were nearly unanimously approved. In trying to waive or change the laws of the country or organizations for individuals, we’ve failed to put service before self.

So, reader, learn this lesson well: religious accommodation is only warranted when those laws or policies directly contradict the will and commands of God. In cases of contradiction, all individuals are called to choose to serve God rather than men, even if it costs them dearly. If the law or policy is unjust, then it should be fought and fixed at the appropriate legislative level, not at the individual level. Lawmakers and policy makers must consider this before pushing mass requirements or mandates.

If we are faithful to religious liberty and human flourishing within organizations (discipline is good for people, despite what we’ve been led to believe: consider 1 Timothy 4:7-8, 2 Timothy 2:4, Hebrews 12:3-11), then we’ll see morale improve, a common goal be upheld, and individuals seek the highest and best usefulness of their team, nation, and world.

A person who is convinced that they cannot submit to the orders of those appointed over them while serving God should be helped to transition, within a reasonable timeframe, to a place where they can serve God and their conscience, which may very well be outside of the organization.

Permanently exiting an organization for a spiritual conviction may sound harsh, but as we learned by kowtowing to every request, the organization will soon stand for nothing. Take the military for example: the emphasis very quickly turned from defending the country to avoiding lawsuits and bad press. Fading away from long-standing convictions quickly led to forgetting priorities and allocating manpower to things that didn’t matter and didn’t help anyone, even the people requesting the help.

Nazarite Vow

Now, the top of this list is beards. The United States military has long held to the tradition of a clean-shaven appearance. Right or wrong, this is the currently codified law of the United States military. Every military member has raised their right hand and stated that they will obey orders. Beards were the main topic recently, and certainly will be again, so I want to consider a few things from a Judeo-Christian worldview on whether beards are an integral part of the faith.

First though, I want to look at temporary concessions where I think we can work with people for their good and the furtherance of the organizations where they’ll work. Take for example the Nazarite vow. Outlined in Numbers chapter six we see that a Nazarite vow has a lot of requirements. If you don’t want to read the whole list, know that it has dietary, grooming, sanitary, and sacrificial requirements. The Nazarite vow is an opportunity to seek the Lord in a similar way as a Levitical priest:

1. Open for men or women from any (or no) tribe (Numbers 6:2)
2. Was done intentionally for the purpose of holiness (Numbers 6:2)
3. Required abstaining from wine and strong drink (Numbers 6:3)
4. Required abstaining from vinegar made from wine or spirits (Numbers 6:3)
5. Required abstaining from all grape products (Numbers 6:3-4)
6. Was for a predetermined amount of time (Numbers 6:4, though lifelong exceptions occurred elsewhere)
7. Precluded the cutting of the hair on the head, neither the beard nor the locks (hair) (Numbers 6:5)
8. Required avoiding approaching or touching a dead body (Numbers 6:6-7)
9. Required readiness to completely shave your head and making offering of doves if a dead body was touched (Numbers 6:9)
10. Required quite a few offerings, including a ewe lamb, a ram, and bread (Numbers 6:14-17)
11. Required completely shaving your head and burning your hair at the conclusion (Numbers 6:18)
12. Came with an OPTIONAL additional contribution (Numbers 6:21)

All this to say, it’s not an easy vow, and while it does allow for the wearing of a beard, this is not a standalone command. The only optional pieces of this vow are

1. If you’re going to take it
2. How long you’re going to observe it
3. If you want to include a money offering at the end

Paul upheld the vow and paid the expenses (likely the mandatory offerings from verses 14-17 and the optional offering from verse 21) of four Jews in Jerusalem as well as observing his own Nazarite vow in Acts 18:18.

To make it more complicated, we see men like Daniel observing a sort of vow in Daniel 10:3, similar to a Nazarite vow, but mainly focusing on avoiding wine and meat (of which the Nazarite vow says nothing) and anointing, and there is no indication that he shaved his head afterwards. Daniel’s fast or vow lasted twenty-one days. Mephibosheth also observed a modified version when he knew David’s life was in danger (2 Samuel 19:24).

So, all of this to say, we should be accommodating people who want to take temporary vows like this. If it’s in the military where there is some chance that interacting with a dead body is possible, the member should have a good plan to end the vow early (v.9). If they’re fasting from meat like Daniel, and there is a chance they will be in an austere location where vegetarian food is unavailable, they need to be sure they’ll serve others instead of endangering them, which may included breaking their vow early.

If the member is serious about growing a beard, ask them if they’d be willing to take leave; this could be part of the optional offering. We don’t want to be legalistic, as Daniel shows us there are other options, but we do want to be sincere and ensure our people are sincere. Again, the ultimate purpose of the Nazarite vow is to serve God, not to impose our rights or desires on others.

Joseph – The Shaved Ambassador

Do we have an example of someone who was serving God and people in austere, less than ideal, conditions? Yes we do. Was he required to wear a beard? Quite the opposite. Joseph spent years (at least two, maybe as many as thirteen: see Genesis 37:2, 41:1, 41:46) in prison, undoubtedly growing a pretty substantial beard. When it became apparent to the Pharaoh of Egypt that Joseph could help him, Joseph was summoned quickly. But he did not go directly to Pharaoh, the text is clear that he took some time to clean himself up, which included shaving his beard (Genesis 41:14).

There are many people worthy to be emulated in the Bible, none more so than Jesus Christ, but Joseph is near the top of that list. If Joseph took time to make himself presentable in service, and he did, then you’ll be very hard-pressed to convince me that the wear of a beard is a significant part of Christianity.

Shame in Shaving

But, you might say, shaving was seen as shameful in 2 Samuel 10 when a band of David’s men were mistreated and half their beards were shaved off and their clothing was rent in twain. The purpose of David leaving these men in hiding until their beards grew back was not so that they’d have beards, it was to let the reminder fade from how they had been shamefully treated on a diplomatic peace-making trip to supposed allies.

The shaving of half their beards was an outward sign of someone else’s sin and the inward shame of David’s men; the shaving was not the point, if it was the Ammonites would have shaved their whole heads. If any of your members are mistreated by an enemy, learn from this story to seek to restore them from their shame.

In Christianity, we see this mirrored by the transformation that turns sinners into saints (consider 1 Corinthians 6:9-11), who used to be horrible lawbreakers but are now washed, justified, and sanctified.

Jesus’ Beard

You might say, “Jesus had a beard! As a follower of Jesus, I should imitate him by having a beard! After all, 1 Corinthians 11:1 and 1 John 2:6 and 1 Peter 2:21!”

Have you ever studied how we know that Jesus had a beard? It is only mentioned in one place in scripture, Isaiah 50:6, where we see it torn from his face by those who were persecuting him. If Jesus’ beard somehow made him more holy, pious, or righteous, then we would expect the Bible to make something of it, rather than show that it was used to increase his obedience (to allow people to mistreat him) and shame and sorrow. Early Christians like Polycarp, Irenaeus, and Justin Martyr don’t mention Jesus having a beard at all, except to quote Isaiah 50:6.

Charles Spurgeon and Clement of Alexandria made arguments from nature that a beard is natural, scriptural, manly, and beneficial, and I can agree with them on all of those. But beards are all still optional. Spurgeon went on to say,

You might put on tomorrow a garment without seam, woven from the top throughout; you might put sandals on the soles of your feet; you might wear your beard uncut, and so say, “In all this I seek to be like Christ,” and you might even ride through the streets of Jerusalem upon a colt, the foal of a [donkey], but you would be no more like Christ than you are now. The greatest conformity to his image must be within. (emphasis mine)

Become an imitator of Christ by coming not to be served, but to serve (Mark 10:45), and enduring the suffering he endured (Romans 8:17-18, 1 Peter 4:1-3).

Final Thoughts

If a person wants to grow a beard, they are welcome to do it outside of an organization that requires it.

If you want to anoint your beard with oil, then do so physically outside of the military or when you’re on leave. If you want to do it metaphorically, then humble yourself and promote unity among brothers (Psalm 133:1-2, compare 1 John 2:20), there's no law against that. In multiple cases the beard was the downfall of the wearer (1 Samuel 17:35 (granted, it’s a lion that suffered, but it’s impossible to grab something by the beard if they don’t have a beard…) and 2 Samuel 20:9).

In other places it was a source of shame (like David’s servants, and Jesus’ humiliation). Ezra and Ezekiel used their beards to express mourning and judgement over the sin of the people (Ezra 9:2-6, Ezekiel 5:1-17). If Ezra didn’t have a beard, would he have been able to express his mourning? If Ezekiel didn’t have a beard, would he have been able to illustrate God’s judgment? In both cases these were apt illustrations, not requirements.

Conclusion

There is no room for religious accommodation for physical reasons in Christianity, only in matters dealing with eternity. When it comes to these accommodations, we’re not waiting for it to get approved on earth, we’re announcing that it is already approved in heaven.

Which Way to Pray?

Some years ago I was in the Middle East and wanted to purchase a Persian rug. From a previous trip I already had a nice large area rug, so I was just looking for a small throw rug. I picked one out, rolled it up, and brought it home. When I unrolled it, I unexpectedly tripped over something. Upon inspection, there was a small compass strategically glued to one end of the rug. I realized that it wasn’t just a Persian rug, it was a prayer rug, and the compass was meant to help a person kneeling on it find the direction to the Kaaba in Mecca, the location to which Muslims pray (Here’s a random fact: if you really wanted to pray toward Mecca from most places in the world, you’d pray downwards through the earth…unless we believe that prayers are affected by gravity and circumnavigate the globe).

I removed the compass and put that rug to work as a throw rug, but to this day there is still some glue residue in that spot. The real residue was the thought that stuck in my mind that day: Why don't Christians still pray in a certain direction?

After all, Daniel prayed in a certain direction from his exile in Persia,

When Daniel knew [that the document making prayer to anyone other than Darius illegal] had been signed, he went to his house where he had the windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. ~ Daniel 6:10 (emphasis mine)

Unlike Muslims, Daniel had a reason for praying toward Jerusalem. This was where the temple had been, and where God made his dwelling place on earth. When this temple was dedicated something interesting happened, while this was the dwelling place of God on earth, Solomon did not pray toward the temple, he “knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven…” (2 Chronicles 6:13, emphasis mine). Despite the dwelling place of God being with men, and the temple being completed, Solomon still prayed toward heaven.

Further he said, “Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built” (2 Chronicles 6:18), but then he said something that explained Daniel’s directional prayer,

Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you, that your eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have promised to set your name, that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. And listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen from heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive. ~ 2 Chronicles 6:19-20 (emphasis mine, Compare 1 Kings 8:30-48)

It wasn’t until Solomon finished his prayer that God filled the temple,

As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. ~ 2 Chronicles 7:1 (emphasis mine)

Others who prayed toward Jerusalem were Jonah even from the belly of a fish (Jonah 2:4,7) and David when the temple of God was still just a tabernacle (Psalm 5:7).

But those who prayed fervently but without a physical direction include Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1:4-6), Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:1-3), and Jeremiah (Lamentations 3:55-57), and most importantly, Jesus.

When Jesus visited Samaria there was a pile of rubble on top of Mount Gerizim and the temple on Mount Zion (in Jerusalem) had been rebuilt by Zerubbabel and renovated/expanded by Herod (which is why we call it “Herod’s temple”, I still call it “Zerubbabel’s temple”). Yet the Samaritans still insisted that Gerizim was the proper place to worship God. A Samaritan woman saw her chance to ask a prophet which mountain was the right mountain: “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but y’all say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship” (John 4:20, y’all is the proper translation of her question, implying that Judeans (the country surrounding Jerusalem), not just Jesus, said that Zion was the location of God’s temple). Jesus answered,

The hour is coming when neither on this mountain (Gerizim) nor in Jerusalem (Zion) will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews (an abbreviated way to say Judeans). But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. ~ John 4:21-24

Jesus’ answer is clear, the proper place to pray to the Father is not location or direction dependent, it’s from the inward places: in spirit and truth. When I teach this to kids I point to the heart, “in spirit and,” I point to the head, “in truth."

In the Daniel account it’s easy to see why Daniel would pray toward Jerusalem. Or is it? To make it complicated, in Ezekiel 10 the glory of the Lord had departed from the temple, we call it “ichabod” or literally, “The Glory Has Departed” (the “i” is a negation of “chabod” or glory). So God no longer lived in Solomon’s temple…and there was no Solomon’s temple. Solomon’s temple had been burned not too long after the event of ichabod. This was some four decades before Daniel would pray in that direction. It is almost guaranteed that Daniel was familiar with those two events, yet he still prayed toward Jerusalem. Charles Spurgeon believed it was because Jerusalem was the symbol of God’s covenant promises, remembering God’s specific promises to restore his people, in another place he mentioned that Daniel had an expectation of a rebuilt temple. I believe Daniel knew the temple would be rebuilt because he prophesied that it would be destroyed again (Daniel 9:26), a prophecy that was fulfilled when Roman General Titus destroyed the temple in AD 70 and its stones were ripped one from another to access the gold that had flowed between them in a molten state (Matthew 24:2).

So while Daniel prayed toward Jerusalem, the time has come and is now here where we don’t pray toward Jerusalem because it’s no longer where God lives. We worship him in spirit and in truth. His temple and dwelling place on earth is his church, made up of living stones, and while another temple will be built sometime in the future, it won’t be where God lives. Jews still pray towards the Temple Mount at the Wailing Wall, but Christians pray in a different direction.

So which way do we pray? We pray toward God, "Our God is in the heavens, he does whatever he pleases" (Psalm 115:3, emphasis mine). Psalm 121:1-2 says that when the Psalmist looked to the hills, he wondered, “Where does my help come from?” It’s not from earth or sky, it’s from the maker of these things! In another place it says, “To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!” (Psalm 123:1, emphasis mine).

Jesus prayed for his disciples and all who would come to faith through their words by lifting up his eyes toward heaven (John 17:1). But David in Psalm 40:12 and 138:2, Ezra in Ezra 9:6, and the tax collector in Luke 18:13 looked down, in humility and shame. Why is that some would look up and others would look down?

Job 22:26 gives us the answer, that we delight ourselves in the Almighty and “lift up our faces to God.” We see the Israelites in the desert looking up, but not to heaven, toward a different object. Moses made a bronze serpent in the shape of the curse that was afflicting the wandering Israelites: if they’d look up, they would be healed and saved from the curse of their sin (Numbers 21:9). Jesus explicitly tells us that was a foreshadowing of him being lifted up on the cross (John 3:14-17), where we would would look to him, all the ends of the earth, and be saved (Isaiah 45:22).

When we pray we still hold to the example of that tax-collector, and humility is good, but it’s not the only way to pray. Often in the counseling room I’ll be actively and silently praying while listening to someone talk. It would be very distracting to bow my head right then and there. While driving it would be very inadvisable to close your eyes and bow your head. We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7), but that doesn’t mean literally that we should be driving with our eyes closed. I learned long ago to give invitations for the whole man, “With every head raised, every eye open, no feet moving, and no music playing: God is ready to hear your prayer of repentance, he’ll meet you at your seat or the altar is open.”

The most important direction to pray is toward God. Hezekiah, when he was dying, turned away from men so that he could pray directly to God (2 Kings 20:2-3, Isaiah 38:2-3), the Israelites had to look away from Moses and the fiery snakes to look to the bronze serpent (Numbers 21:9), the Psalmist looked away from the hills to seek help from the Lord (Psalm 121:1-2). The author of Hebrews tells us to run the race looking to Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2). Where does God dwell? He dwells in the heavens, but he also lives in you if you’ve been born again (John 14:17, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 2 Timothy 1:14). In humility I recommend head bowed and eyes closed, in exaltation I recommend head raised and eyes up. We know the cross is just a symbol, but beloved try praying while looking to the cross, which is both a horrid symbol of the curse and a glorious symbol of God’s love. Stuart Townend wrote, “Come see the cross where love and mercy meet!” (Psalm 85:10-11).

And what about facing people? We rarely lay hands on those we’re praying for, but Jesus and Paul didn’t hesitate to physically touch those they were praying for. I’m not a mystic (dabbling in mysteries) but I have to admit that there is something mystically wonderful in the laying on of hands (compare 1 Timothy 4:14, 5:22) as well as lifting holy hands toward heaven (Nehemiah 8:6, Psalm 28:2, Psalm 63:4, Psalm 119:48, Psalm 134:2, Psalm 141:2, 1 Timothy 2:8, Hebrews 12:12).

When I and many other pastors give the benediction, we lift our hands in the direction of the congregation. This isn’t just tradition, this is following the example of Jesus, “He led [his disciples] out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them” (Luke 24:50, compare Leviticus 9:22).

Now here’s where I might take this a bit too far, but I don’t think there is any sin in it. Daniel prayed toward Jerusalem, toward a destroyed temple, toward a hope for the future, and toward a place where he longed for the Spirit of God to dwell again. If you have a loved one who is running from God, I think your heart can yearn for them by praying in their general direction. After all, what are they but an empty structure where God has no dwelling place (Ephesians 2:1-3)? Our great desire is that they may be saved (Romans 9:3, 10:1), that God would make his dwelling place among them and walk among them, and that he would be their God and they would be his people (2 Corinthians 6:16). The Prodigal Son’s father was looking in the direction whence his son might return (Luke 15:20). Pray that they would say like Emily Elliott, "O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for Thee."

Now, you don’t have to pray in their general or specific direction, especially if you don’t know where they are. The greatest place to approach is the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16). God knows where they are, even if they’re running, and it’s been rightly said (generally using Jonah 1:3 as an example), “God can hit a moving target.” So pray ultimately toward God for your wayward prodigal:

They can run from you, they can run from their upbringing, they can run from the church, they can run from God, but they can never run from your prayers. ~ Andrew van der Bijl

Paul concluded his list of spiritual warfare accoutrements with, “Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” (Ephesians 6:18). Elsewhere we pray unceasingly (1 Thessalonians 1:2, 3:10, 5:17, 2 Thessalonians 2:17). Pray that God will direct their hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ (2 Thessalonians 3:5).

Our prayers can go where we cannot; there are no borders, no prison walls, no doors that are closed to us when we pray. ~ Andrew van der Bijl

So, all this to say, pray toward God. Pray toward his dwelling place, pray toward his Son, pray toward his Spirit. Pray looking up, pray looking down. Pray with eyes open beholding the horror of the cross, pray with eyes open in wonder beholding the empty cross because his work is finished and he is risen. Pray with eyes closed to shut out distractions, pray with head bowed to express your humility. Pray with hands lifted high, pray with hands laid on people (his temple on earth) within the church, pray toward the empty people you want God to indwell, pray towards the people filled with bitterness you want God to cleanse.

And above all, if you don’t know which direction to pray: Just pray.

Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord! ~ Psalm 134:2

Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven! ~ Lamentations 3:41

Jesus said to them, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” ~ John 14:6

And if, by some happenstance, you do pray in the wrong direction or way, know that both the Son and the Spirit are actively praying for you if you've repented of your sins and are fully trusting in Jesus Christ for your comfort and salvation, and their prayers are perfect (Romans 8:27, Hebrews 7:25), and the Father will hear you directly, in Jesus' name (John 16:26-27), amen.

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Further Reading:

Better Chaplain Series – Pray for People

The Privilege of Prayer

Books Read - April-June 2026

Books I've listened to or read from April-June 2026 (contains Amazon Affiliate Links)

I've been busier than expected but I still worked through a lot of books, none were really ground breaking, but sometimes that's okay. I've been mainly reading from my local library, but that has introduced me to books and authors I wouldn't have looked at elsewhere; it's also limited me from reading some of my favorite authors. I'm going to start with the worst book because it was arguably the most important concept and one that is destroying Christianity as I write this.

Book that wasn't very good but made me think:

Total Forgiveness by R.T. Kendall - This one is tough because it honestly contains a lot of great things about the power of forgiveness, but it has one FATAL and DISASTROUS flaw. It may have been the pre-runner of Chris Brauns' wicked Unpacking Forgiveness or Vee Chandler's bitterness inducing Biblical Boundaries of Forgiveness. Honestly, most of Kendall's book is wonderful and focusing on God's amazing grace in total forgiveness. But where it fails is when talking about judging and withholding forgiveness. Kendall forgets that there is a Matthew 25:23-35 in the Bible and so he requires consequences instead of forgiveness; in Kendall's version of that story the servants (both of them) would have to be punished because there was a chance they would go out and defraud others. The problem with requiring repentance before forgiveness, besides it destroying the unforgiver with bitterness, that the Bible commands it (Colossians 3:13), and that Jesus forgave before repentance (Luke 22:32, Luke 23:34), is that it sets up an arbitrary measurement of repentance that no perpetrator can ever attain. Vee Chandler gives an example of a circumstance where a perpetrator goes public about their sin, quits their job, and leaves the state, and only then the victim would forgive them. Can you imagine Jesus requiring that of those he forgives? If you leave the measurement of repentance in the victim's hands, then you will make them twice the sons of hell as yourself. I hate to be so harsh on this book, because a good bit of it was really good and helpful, but there is a scourge in Christianity destroying relationships and souls and locking people into bitterness, and Total Forgiveness helps to condemn people by not not encouraging Total Forgiveness. The Bible is exceedingly clear on forgiveness, and what Kendall, Brauns, Chandler and others (Teasi Cannon will soon contribute a book to this newer heresy) are peddling is not it.

Books that were okay and made me think:

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov - As the world gets closer to being inundated by A (There is no I in Artificial Intelligence), it was interesting to be part of a book club that was reading this book published in 1950. Asimov saw many of the challenges coming, such as people falling in love with robots, abandoning human relationships, and robots having competing and broken constraints. I'm leaving it in this sections instead of higher because Asimov's interaction with deity and conscience were almost non-existent (except as jokes or plot filler), which is honestly the most important part of the future of A. More than anything else, this book helped me to become disillusioned with the failure that is A and to hope to publish more articles and works in the futures on the Christian response to A.

Appetite for America: Fred Harvey and the Business of Civilizing the Wild West One Meal at a Time by Stephen Fried - Having grown up seeing Fred Harvey busses all over my hometown, I realized I had no idea what the name meant. I actually know where there is a scrapped Fred Harvey bus still visible to the public. In reading this book I hoped to learn more about Fred Harvey, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn many other things about the Southwest from this book. Fried traces the rise and fall of Fred Harvey the brand, starting with Fred Harvey the man. The research is impeccable and the storytelling is for the most part good. Fried took this opportunity to provide smaller biographies and vignettes throughout the book, some interesting, and some wearisome. I'm listing it as just "ok" as there is no real moral to the story; maybe Fried wanted us to find our own moral in it, and it was clear to me that building a brand is no way to build a legacy. Fried also spent a bit of time glorifying criminals, malcontents, and prostitutes that wasn't super helpful to the forward movement of the story. My favorite part was the debate over building a hotel on the edge of the Grand Canyon and how it almost was a massive eye-sore until cooler heads and a president intervened; that hotel, the El Tovar, to this day is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world.

Books that were good and made me think:

He Chose the Nails by Max Lucado - Lucado focuses on the sovereignty of God in the death of Jesus. The title is better than the book, but the book is good enough. The absolute best part of the book was the point that when Jesus nailed to the cross, he could look and see a lot of things, the nails, the cross, the Romans, the crowd, but he could also see the hand of God nailed to that cross. Lucado also mentions the sovereignty of when Pontius Pilate nailed a sign above Jesus head which likely contributed to the salvation of the thief to Christ's right.

Leading Character by Dan B. Allender - Allender focuses on the most important thing in any leadership role being character, not ability. It was a great reminder to serve the Lord Christ rather than men, to not be afraid of "public sanctification", and the fact that every person has unique giftings and failings and that God is working in both.

The Elephant and the Dragon by Robyn Meredith - Similarly to how I was hoping to understand Artificial Intelligence better, I was also wondering about the meteoric rise of China out of the 1990s to where they are today. An older book, The Elephant and the Dragon examines the growth of China and India up until 2008 (when it was published), and while I focused more on China, it was interesting to learn about India's similar growth. With many good insights, the primary take-away is that China has grown to where they are by modifying their socialism into a form of authoritative capitalism, and Meredith introduced me to the idea that helped China out of Maoism: If you come to a fork in the road with Communism to the left and Capitalism to the right, signal left and turn right. I was shocked by the inflation under Mao where many provinces were required to pay more in taxes than they even made, all because of overinflated reporting to try to impress Mao and others. My favorite part about the book was that it made me see Indians and Chinese as people attempting to thrive in life, not as nameless foreigners or enemies or competitors, and it would be a good idea for Christians to read this book so that we can see them as people in desperate need of a Saviour.

The Kill Chain by Christian Brose - I read this for work and it was helpful from a chaplain standpoint that everyone in a military or a society or an organization or a church is in a valuable place to contribute. Brose focuses on the many moving pieces that are required to complete a "Kill Chain" where the mission is accomplished. Take a moment to consider which is more important? The pilot who flies the plane or the person who fixes it? The person who fires the ammunition or the person who ensures the ammunition is reliable? The army or the people who feed the army? The person sending the email or the people who make sure the network delivers emails? Brose helped me to see a concept I already knew about, but now I understand more clearly, every single piece of an organization is vital to its success, and we can't imagine ourselves as individual heroes, but as a body that is able to accomplish a mission if and only if we're working together.

The Bible Jesus Read by Philip Yancey - Yancey helped me understand that the battle for the Old Testament has been raging for far longer than the lifetime of my ministry. I love how Yancey frames the message that Jesus wouldn't have read the New Testament, because it hadn't been written yet. The little vignettes of Job, Deuteronomy, the Psalms, Ecclesiastes, and the Prophets were short but helpful. Christian, if you're not reading the Old Testament, you're not reading the very Bible the Jesus read.

The End of Reason by Ravi Zacharias - A little dated now, this book looks at the arguments of famous atheists of about twenty years ago. Many of their arguments have fizzled and died, as expected, but Zacharias has a wonderful way of pointing his answers to eternal truths, and so it is still an encouraging book, though you're unlikely to find a Sam Harris follower or Christopher Hitchens groupie to try these arguments out on.

Books that were great and made me think:

What's So Amazing about Grace by Philip Yancey - I said I'd read it again, and I did. I've sung the song, I've read the book, I've seen grace be amazing in a million ways, and yet I continually need that reminder. The real life examples Yancey gives are miraculous and wonderful, and it brings immense joy to my heart that there are billions of other stories just like them, some of them actively happening in my life. Christian, if you don't know how amazing grace is, or you need a reminder, this book will rock your world and motivate you to take Christ to a lost and dying world!

The Grand Weaver by Ravi Zacharias - Zacharias takes the imagery of master clothing weavers in India making masterpieces while their young sons work behind the scenes and don't see the progress. He ties it together that God is working all things for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose. The worst thing that might be happening to a believer may be the best thing that could be happening, they just don't see it yet, or how it is playing together in God's grand design. The ultimate call is to trust God's wisdom, power, and plan, and this book brought me a lot of comfort.

Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray - I read this book at the recommendation of a friend and I was greatly blessed. We don't realize how many things we're holding onto while feigning submission to God, and Murray helps to release our entire lives, fortunes, and eternities to the one who loved us so much as to surrender his own will to save a people who he then calls to surrender their wills. I hope to read this book again in the near future with friends or family.

Humility by Andrew Murray - I'm sure I read this classic many years ago, but it was a blessing to reread it and be reminded that Christ must increase and I must decrease. I've linked to a different copy than I read because my version had all of the Bible verses switched over to the NIV, so they didn't match Murray's thoughts, and it had quotes at the beginning of every chapter, some good, and some from mystical heretics with highly questionable beliefs. I won't detract from Murray for this, because he didn't do it, some other publisher thought tampering with it was a good idea. My favorite and most impactful part was that the true test of your humility is how you treat and serve others.

Repentance: What it Means to Repent and Why We Must Do So by J.C. Ryle - Ryle has been one of my favorite authors for a good long while, so it was to my shame that I've never read this book. An old friend recommended it and I actually read it twice (it's quite short). Ryle points out that repentance is absolutely necessary as "Heaven is a prepared place, and those who go to heaven must be a prepared people." He encourages believers to know what sin is, sorrow over it, confess it, forsake it, and hate it. His examples of King David and the thief on the cross drive home the thought. And I found a quote I'd been looking for for a long time about repentance at the last moment, or as Ryle calls it, "Late repentance": "One thief was saved that no man might despair, but only one, that no man might presume." The kingdom of heaven is at hand, the time is fulfilled, let us repent of our sins and trust in Christ!

Book that I wrote that I think is pretty good:

Seeking the Cure, Finding the Christ by Canyon Shearer - I wrote this book after I was greatly encouraged preaching through the story of Naaman and the seven people who helped him find God, and greatly discouraged by the tragedy of Gehazi's greed. I also wanted, like Yancey's The Bible Jesus Read, to help believers see the depth and beauty of the Old Testament and to lay a firm foundation for the joy that is revealed in the promised Messiah who is able to wash away our sin and shame. I released this entire book on this blog if you're interested, start at chapter 1: Irredeemable.

Conclusion - Seeking the Cure, Finding the Christ

This post is a chapter from the book, Seeking the Cure, Finding the Christ, which is the book version of multiple sermons preached from 2022 to 2025. Since this book was meant to bless the church I am also making it available on this blog.

• Irredeemable
• Naaman the Leper
• The Servant Girl
• Naaman's Wife
• The King of Syria
• The King of Israel
• Elisha
• Elisha's Servant
• Naaman's Servants
• Naaman the Cleansed
• Gehazi
• Jesus
• Still Working
• Conclusion

Conclusion

There is a lost and dying world full of men like Naaman who will perish in their sins unless someone tells them of Jesus, mighty to save. Your call is to be one part of their redemption. I’m not proposing some magical formula of seven touches to salvation; for some it is far fewer and others it requires many more. However many it takes, God uses human beings to publish his peace and redemption to the world.

What a blessing it is to be used as an instrument of redemption in the master’s hand. Don’t make excuses:

The Israelite Girl was too little and too young.

Naaman’s Wife had been hurt one too many times.

Ben-Hadad had burned too many bridges.

Jehoram didn’t even know God.

Elisha was too busy and too important.

Elisha’s Servant hadn’t graduated seminary yet.

Naaman’s Servants only knew one verse.

If they didn’t make excuses, neither should you; God has put you where you are to be a faithful ambassador. Maybe you’re not as famous or fruitful as you’d like to be. Some of the most famous men of the first century were Paul and Apollos, yet look at how Paul addresses their fame:

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ~ 1 Corinthians 3:5–7

I believe in heaven we’ll be enthralled as we are able to continuously hear the intricacies of the interweaving of testimonies and how God used unremarkable people and events to change eternal destinies. Will someone say to you, “Because you prayed for me I had the boldness to go talk to this person sitting next to me?” Or will a tribulation in your life that seemed to have no heavenly purpose be linked to your future faithfulness that put you in just the right place to share just the right verse?

People talk about the glories of heaven as the streets of gold, gates of pearl, and walls of precious stones, and I do look forward to that, but so much more I want to hear how God has used you and I to seek his lost sheep and shine his light to the world. If you want to find me in heaven, I’ll be somewhere on the right side of the throne listening to testimony after testimony while I praise my Saviour through it all. I know we’ll sing a new song in heaven, but I’d be content to just sing Hallelujah, What a Saviour (also known as Man of Sorrows) by Philip Bliss:

“Man of sorrows!” what a name
For the Son of God who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim!
Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Guilty, vile and helpless we,
Spotless Lamb of God was He;
Full atonement! can it be?
Hallelujah, what a Savior!

And I expect the best part will be when the Holy Spirit will fill in all of the details that we could not possibly imagine here on earth. I once led a man to Christ who called my office phone number on New Year’s Day; I should not have been in the office, but I had just stopped by before I officiated a wedding. I’m so thankful I was in the right place to answer that desperate caller. He sought hope in a hopeless situation and God blessed me to help him find salvation in Christ.

On another occasion I counseled a man in the evening because it was the only time that worked with his schedule. As we concluded well after dark and were walking to the parking lot, I was surprised to find another man sitting in the lobby hoping to talk. He had been on his way to commit suicide at a lake near my office when he saw the lights on in the chapel and had the random thought, “I wonder what God thinks about what I’m about to do?”

I try not to stay at work late or work on holidays so that I can spend that time with my family, but on both of those occasions God had me right where I was supposed to be. Some of my hardest and most uncomfortable situations have led to the greatest ministry opportunities.

I pray regularly, “Lord, give us the words to speak, the boldness to speak them, and the people to speak them to.” Why would God use us to publish his peace to the world? Because his Word is the word of life, whether it be spoken by Jesus himself, an angel from heaven, or just a nobody trying to tell everybody about somebody who can save anybody.

God uses unlikely people.
He uses flawed people.
He uses failing people.
He uses sinful people,
because if he didn't,
He wouldn't have any people to use. ~ John MacArthur

Beloved, are you a faithful servant to your master? When he calls you to speak, do you speak? Are you loving the people he’s put in your life? Are you part of their story as they’re part of your story as they are part of Christ’s story?

If the gospel be not preached, Christ is, as it were, buried. Therefore, let us stand as witnesses and do him this honor. ~ John Calvin

Above all else, make sure that you don’t miss Jesus in this story or your story. He is still mighty to save, no matter your malady and sin. If you’ll seek him, I guarantee you’ll find him when you seek him with all of your heart.

I can’t guarantee healing from leprosy, but I can guarantee cleansing from sin, because my God is living and able to cleanse from all unrighteousness.

Previous - Still Working

Still Working - Seeking the Cure, Finding the Christ

This post is a chapter from the book, Seeking the Cure, Finding the Christ, which is the book version of multiple sermons preached from 2022 to 2025. Since this book was meant to bless the church I am also making it available on this blog.

• Irredeemable
• Naaman the Leper
• The Servant Girl
• Naaman's Wife
• The King of Syria
• The King of Israel
• Elisha
• Elisha's Servant
• Naaman's Servants
• Naaman the Cleansed
• Gehazi
• Jesus
• Still Working
• Conclusion

Still Working

How will you apply these principles? Who do you identify with most in this story? Let’s do a quick review of some of the things that God is calling you to; surely this list is not comprehensive, so don’t limit your response to just my insights. The questions are largely rhetorical, but it would be helpful to answer them with a friend.

Naaman

Are you irredeemable like Naaman? Are you convinced by scripture and conscience that your sins and maladies will keep you out of the kingdom of heaven, but if you’ll come to the Lord Christ, you can be washed whiter than snow (Isaiah 1:18). While leprosy, sin, and unrighteousness and all of their associated titles will keep you from being redeemed, a better promise exists for those who will repent of their sins and put their trust in Christ,

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. ~ 1 Corinthians 6:11

Joseph Hart, alluding to Psalm 109:31, Hebrews 7:25, and John 6:37 among others summarizes the promise,

Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
weak and wounded, sick and sore,
Jesus ready stands to save you,
full of pity, love, and power.

Whether your sin was inherited, foisted upon you, or if you dove headlong into it and are reaping the consequences, the truth is that the blood of Jesus cleanses from all unrighteousness. Redemption is available and freely offered.

Be like Naaman and seek the cure while it may be found, and may you, like he, find that knowing the healer is infinitely more valuable than obtaining the cure.

The Slave Girl

Can you identify with that little slave girl? Through no fault of your own you are suffering and God has sent you into exile in a foreign land. Here you have no lasting city, the people speak a strange and vulgar language, and you know that your home is a long way off. Will you seek to be a blessing to the city and people you’re in exile with? Can you sing Keith and Kristyn Getty’s song Jesus, Draw Me Ever Nearer,

Jesus draw me ever nearer
As I labor through the storm
You have called me to this passage
And I’ll follow, though I’m worn

May this journey, bring a blessing
May I rise on wings of faith
And at the end of my heart’s testing
With your likeness let me wake.

It may appear that you are insignificant, lost, and hopeless in a foreign land, but if you know the Lord you know that he will be with you, he will be a light unto you, and he will use you to light a world full of darkness. John called Jesus to be the light of men (John 1:4–5), then Jesus claimed that title for himself (John 8:12, 9:5), but amazingly he called you, dear Christian, the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). Will you hide your light under a basket? Or will you let it shine? Isaiah 60:1–3 is clearly about the promised Messiah shining on the whole world, but it’s just open enough that we see we get to reflect his light and have that passage fulfilled in us as we shine light on a lost and dying world.

Ensure you have a personal relationship with the God of the world, but don’t let it be so personal that those around you don’t benefit from it. Worship God in your heart, but show that he is worthy by publishing his peace to the world!

Will we offer our lives, or just the songs we have sung? ~ Billy and Cindy Foote

Naaman’s Wife

Do you need to put aside your bitterness and contention to help someone who doesn’t deserve to be helped? To love someone who is unlovable?

Humble yourself to be discipled by someone who knows more about love and forgiveness than you do. Seek the highest and best usefulness of the people around you, even if you don’t like them and especially if you don’t think they deserve it.

Even as the angry vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help to forgive him…Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on his. When he tells us to love our enemies, he gives along with the command, the love itself. ~ Corrie Ten Boom

Who can you love today who is unlovable? Wife, you might start with your husband. Husband, you might start with your wife. But don’t stop there.

The King of Syria

Someone on this planet needs you to spend and be spent to move them closer to Jesus. What resources has God entrusted to you for their sake?

Someone needs an urgency and an exhortation because they are presuming on God’s grace and they think that someday they’ll get right with God. Who can you remind that tonight their soul might be required of them?

Someone needs an advocate to speak up for them. Who can you be a voice for today? Who can you help on their journey to be the person God’s desires them to be? How many young preachers are hindered because no one will lend them a pulpit or a recommendation?

God doesn’t need your good works, but your neighbor does. ~ Martin Luther

The King of Israel

Does anyone think you think you’re God? Humble yourself today to declare, not deny, but declare, that Jesus Christ is the true God and Saviour; the only name given under heaven by which we must be saved.

Help people on their journey to meet him, don’t stand in their way. Don’t offer false salvation or false hope, even if you don’t know the true hope of humanity.

When you and I are nothing, God is all; and when we are empty, there is room for God to fill us. ~ Charles Spurgeon

Elisha

Be found faithful in the work that Christ has prepared beforehand for you to walk in. Sometimes that work will be monumental, and other times it will feel small.

A small thing is a small thing, but faithfulness in a small thing is a great thing. ~ Hudson Taylor

Be faithful if you’re called to witness to the leading general of a foreign nation, and be faithful if you’re making unnamed disciples or helping to build a house.

If you cannot honor God in your shop, or in your kitchen, or in your daily work, you will not honor Him anywhere else. ~ Charles Spurgeon

Do you have a grasp of the needs of your community? Be that the world, the nation, the state, the city or the neighborhood? Do you know how to pray for your neighbors and coworkers? Have they heard about the cleansing and saving work of Jesus? Who is going to tell them?

Are you buying the truth and not selling it? Can you say the following verse faithfully with the Apostle Paul?

I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. ~ Acts 3:6

Elisha’s Servant

You have been entrusted to deliver the message of eternal life, to proclaim that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through him. Are you faithfully proclaiming this message? Are you an ambassador of the king? Is the king pleased with your message and how you’re handling his word? Have you kept quiet where you should have spoken? Have you spoken where you should have been quiet?

When you were sent, did you go?

If faith comes by hearing, who have you told? ~ Aaron Johnson

Naaman’s Servants

Are you a peacemaker or a peacebreaker? Are you encouraging people to trust and obey the promises of God? Or are you helping them to get mad at people and embittered towards God?

How many Bible verses do you know? Are you putting them to work? The men only knew one Bible verse, but they put it to work, and we’re still talking about it nearly three thousand years later.

Have you moved people closer to salvation and God?

Gehazi

What sorts of things are drawing your affections away from the living Christ?

Are the things you’re living for worth Christ dying for? ~ Leonard Ravenhill

Which weights and sins have clung so closely and have stopped or slowed your race? How can you cut them free today?

Think about the last time you fell into grievous sin; did you repent immediately? What might keep you from repentance and seeking the cleansing power of Jesus? What does it profit a man to gain the riches of the world and contract leprosy? What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?

He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. ~ Jim Elliott

God can use you in spite of your sin; he can use you as a bad example, or as a witness to the miracles he is performing. You can Know that he is mighty to save and still not repent or seek his blessings.

Don’t perish having read this book or your Bible and hearing the redemptive message meant to make you wise for salvation in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:15). If God can save Naaman, if God can save me, then God can save you. But unless you repent, you will perish like Gehazi and Judas.

Jesus

Notice that none of these people pretended to be the savior. There is one Saviour, and we are not him. We needed a perfect man to make peace between us and God, we needed God in the flesh to sanctify us from all unrighteousness, and we needed a mediator to intercede for us continually. Jesus of Nazareth stepped out of heaven bear our sins, suffering and scorn, and to lay down his life so he could take it back up again.

Because he lives, he is able to save to the guttermost all those who draw near to him in faith. He is able to wash us whiter than snow, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He is able to make us new, and he is even able to use us in our afflictions.

For all of these reasons it seems impossible to emulate Jesus. We’ll just be still and know that he is God (Isaiah 46:10).

But beloved, you are called to look like and act like him (1 Corinthians 11:1, Romans 8:29). Let’s start with the fact that there are communicable (attributes we can imitate) and incommunicable (attributes that belong only to God), so don’t try to be God or the Saviour or the Holy Spirit in someone’s life: point them to the Father, Son, and Spirit who are able to fulfill those roles perfectly. They must increase, and we must decrease.

But beloved, we can seek and save the lost, we can bring his healing to the world, and we can love the unlovable. If it costs something to see someone redeemed, pay that price. If it requires time to love someone, spend it. If this kind can only be cast out by prayer and fasting, then pray and fast! If somebody might have to die to take the message to a lost and dying world, then be that somebody. Perhaps you’ve come into the kingdom for just such a time as this.

Go for sinners, and go for the worst. ~ William Booth

Ross King wrote a wonderful song recently called Like Jesus, and in it he juxtaposes that many of the things Jesus did and said cost him dearly; if we are called imitate Jesus, then consider some of these lyrics.

I wanna be like Him when he tells the Pharisees the depth of their own sin.
But I don’t really wanna be like Jesus later when he dies for them.

I wanna be like Him knockin’ down those soldiers just by sayin’, “I am He.”
But not so much the part right after when He surrenders peacefully.

I refuse to pick and choose
the parts of Jesus that are easiest
to bow down to…

And finally beloved, what is your answer to that old hymn by E. A. Hoffman, Are You Washed in the Blood?

Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in his grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin.
Oh be washed in the blood of the Lamb!
There’s a fountain flowing for the soul unclean.
Oh be washed in the blood of the Lamb!

If you’re not washed in the blood of the Lamb, I implore you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, be reconciled to God!

Previous - Jesus         Next - Conclusion

Jesus - Seeking the Cure, Finding the Christ

This post is a chapter from the book, Seeking the Cure, Finding the Christ, which is the book version of multiple sermons preached from 2022 to 2025. Since this book was meant to bless the church I am also making it available on this blog.

• Irredeemable
• Naaman the Leper
• The Servant Girl
• Naaman's Wife
• The King of Syria
• The King of Israel
• Elisha
• Elisha's Servant
• Naaman's Servants
• Naaman the Cleansed
• Gehazi
• Jesus
• Still Working
• Conclusion

Jesus

If we only learn one thing from Naaman’s story it’s that our need is far greater than men’s ability to fix.

If our greatest need is food, we just need to work harder in agriculture and farming. If our greatest need is education and knowledge, then off to school we go. If it’s an earthly enemy, we only need advanced tactics and weapons. If it’s money, we just need the right career, or investment strategy, or rich friend. But there are certain needs on this earth that have long been incurable apart from God, and one that will remain so.

Leprosy and Sin

Leprosy was incurable until the 1940s. In the Old Testament you can count healed lepers on two fingers, and those were the very specific and clearly supernatural cases of Miriam and Naaman.

Leprosy is the perfect symbol for sin, it doesn’t kill immediately, it is not even the cause of death, it just helps you to descend deeper and deeper into pain and despair. The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). When sin is fully grown it brings forth death (James 1:15). The steps of temptation lead down to death and hell (Proverbs 5:5).

Not only will leprosy eventually lead to your demise, it is also highly contagious. It estranges you from people, and if and when you share it with your loved ones it will curse them as well. The author of Hebrews warns, “See to it…that no ‘root of bitterness’ springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled…” (Hebrews 12:15). God “will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation” (Exodus 34:7). Sin has defiled everything and everyone. Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned (Romans 5:12).

Leprosy is a vivid illustration of our spiritual need. Consider yourself before you knew Christ. If you’re reading this and don’t know Christ, especially pay attention to this next paragraph.

While your body may have looked intact, what did your soul look like? Truth be told, your heart and mine was and is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; compared to my heart a leper could win a beauty pageant. Can you think of anyone you hurt deeply? My life before Christ was littered with people I tore down and/or buttressed in their idolatry. I remember one girl in high school specifically I bullied to the point of tears. I can think of many other people that I encouraged to sin. I can think of friends who died far too young and I wonder why I didn’t care enough to reach out. The swath of destruction in my path before meeting the Lord Jesus Christ is horrendous and I proved the proverb, “in their paths are ruin and misery” (Romans 3:16, Isaiah 59:7).

Like leprosy, sin also destroys relationships. Jesus promised, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). A leper, if he cares about his friends, is going to keep a vast distance from them to safeguard them. No more handshakes, no hugs, no pats on the back, no more handholding.

Because of the impurity of the heart, the sinner becomes a peacebreaker. Because of the impurity of the skin, the leper loses human connection. And the ultimate relationship that suffers is with God. Jesus also said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). This is mirroring the language from Psalm 24, as well as other verses, and it reminds us that heaven is holy, pure, undefiled, unstained, and perfect.

Imagine for a moment that the angels guarding the way to the tree of life were to let a leper through the gates. What would happen to heaven? Within days, if not moments, it wouldn’t be heaven any longer, it would be just like earth. No, it would be worse because of the distance it had fallen. Remember Penelope Judd from Shai Linne’s song? The angel bars the way when she approaches the door,

A huge angel answered, looked her up and down,
She knew something was wrong because he had a big frown,
‘Can I help you ma’am?’ ‘Yes, I’m here for the party!
I have invitation!’ He said, ‘I’m so sorry!
There’s no way that I can let you through these doors,
the King won’t let anyone dirty up His floors.’

How would you feel if you destroyed heaven? How would you feel if you were a leper and you knew that your carelessness had led to someone else contracting the disease? How much worse would you feel if you knew your example or inaction had led someone to hell for eternity?

Pain and Conviction

“Feel” might not be the right word, beloved, because what Hansen’s disease does is attack your nervous system. Often the damage you see done to a leper’s body is self-imposed, they cut themselves and don’t realize it, so no bandage was applied. They picked up a blazing hot pot from an oven with bare hands. They scratched their nose too hard and too often. They didn’t feel anything, but the damage was done. Dr. Paul Brand, world renowned leprosy physician said, “I cannot think of a better gift I could give my leprosy patients than pain.”

One of the great gifts God has given us is the gift of shame: of “feeling” and understanding that we are guilty and in need of forgiveness. Naaman had sought a cure for his skin condition, but in so doing he found what he really needed: a cure for his soul condition. Naaman’s leprosy ended up being the greatest thing that ever happened to him–eclipsed only by when his leprosy was healed and he met the living God. Jesus sent his promised Holy Spirit to convict us of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:7–11).

What a joy when the Spirit shows us our need, because Jesus tells us, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). John Newton put it this way,

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear,
the hour I first believed.

Apart from God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, do you see the despair that a leper would feel? Hopeless, alone, shameful, destitute, forsaken by God and afflicted: irredeemable.

Hope and Healing from Heaven

But then the God of heaven chose to send his only begotten Son into the world. He prepared a body for him to wear–nothing majestic or noteworthy–and Jesus dwelt among us and faced our infirmities and understood our suffering.

And he touched lepers. He touched lepers regularly and on purpose. The bacteria that causes leprosy doesn’t care if you touch a leper on accident or on purpose, it is highly contagious and just cares about that opportunity for transfer.

Haggai backed the priests into a conundrum by asking if a holy garment could make food clean that was carried in it. The answer is obviously not. But what if that garment has been on or touched a dead body and food is carried in it? Then the food is obviously defiled (see Haggai 2:10–14). I wouldn’t want to eat it, and obviously neither would you, and God certainly wouldn’t accept it as holy. Men can defile everything, but they cannot make anything holy or acceptable.

But Jesus is about to turn that principle upside down, proving that he’s not just a good man, he is the holy God. When Moses approached the burning bush, God’s presence had made even the dirt holy (Exodus 3:4–5). When Isaiah’s unclean lips were touched by a coal from God’s altar, his lips were sanctified (Isaiah 6:6–7). And in the New Creation every cooking vessel will be just as holy as if it were set-apart solely for temple use (Zechariah 14:21).

Jesus remains holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens (Hebrews 7:26), despite touching lepers regularly and on purpose. When a woman with an incurable bleeding disorder touched him, he was not diminished though something magnificent happened, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” His holiness and his power were infinite, and his ability to heal, redeem, and restore were likewise. The woman was healed in body and soul and Jesus was not defiled in the least (Luke 8:43–48).

Jesus did not have to touch people to heal them, he could say the word and they would be restored, made whole, and cleansed. A military commander had recognized this when he saw the authority in Jesus but was sure he was not worthy for Jesus to enter his house, so he asked Jesus to heal his servant from a distance, which Jesus promptly did (Matthew 8:5–13). J. C. Ryle summarized this story with, “Christ’s Word is as good as His presence.”

If Jesus didn’t have to be in close proximity to lepers, and he certainly didn’t have to touch them, then why did he? Couldn’t he have just said the word from his throne in heaven? Remember, no one touched lepers, they had felt no embrace nor no human warmth because their condition had cut them off from human interaction.

Even when they had the understanding as the military commander from above, and knew Jesus just need to say a word, he still touched them (Matthew 8:2–4). There were strict guidelines for what a leper was supposed to do after cleansing, found in Leviticus 14:2–32, but it had lain dormant and unused for thirteen-hundred years. If anyone needed proof that Jesus was the Messiah, this should have been it, that healing for leprosy had arrived. The healing of lepers was sent as a sign to John the Baptist as evidence that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah (Matthew 11:5). There is no evidence that this passage had ever been obeyed by any leper or priest prior to Jesus beginning his ministry.

The Healing of Body and Soul

If leprosy, the incurable disease, was being cured, what else could be cured? Cancer, HIV/AIDS, dementia, diabetes, rabies; certainly, all of these and more could be healed by Jesus. This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord.

There is one tragic twist we must consider, illustrated when, near the end of his worldly ministry, Jesus approached ten lepers in a village near Samaria and they begged him to heal them. After he healed them, they went off rejoicing, but only one returned to worship him (Luke 17:11–19).

Remember, Naaman sought the cure and found the Christ. It is more than possible to receive the cure and miss the Christ, as evidenced by these nine lepers. We’ve previously considered medical doctor D. Martin Lloyd-Jones who left medicine because he wanted to see people truly saved and transformed, and not merely healed to go back to a life of sin. The miracle of modern medicine is healing bodies left and right while doing nothing for the soul. HIV was a death sentence just thirty years ago, but now with the right treatment it’s just a major inconvenience. What a shame that the body can be healed and the soul left untouched.

So how do we get to the point of healing soul and body? It’s not in taking care of people’s worldly needs, though there is certainly a place for charity. Naaman needed nothing of material value, and if he did need something, he would not have asked the Israelites. God is in the practice of using all things for good to see his saints saved, he’s not willing that even a single one of them should perish, but that they would all come to repentance. God is using all things? All things. Even leprosy? Even leprosy. Remember,

Naaman was as great as the world could make him, and yet the basest slave in Syria would not change skins with him. ~ Matthew Henry

The Great Exchange

I don’t often argue with Matthew Henry, but I have to make an exception: someone did switch places with Naaman.

Paul tells us, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21) and “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…” (Galatians 3:13).

Peter tells us, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). And Isaiah drives the point home,

Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned–every one–to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all. ~ Isaiah 53:4–6

Jesus loved Naaman in this way, that he went to a Roman cross to be abandoned by God and men, to face the full consequences of sin and to pay the wages of sin, so that we can receive eternal life in him (Romans 6:23). Surely the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus came to give life and life abundantly (John 10:10). Horatius Bonar illustrates the great exchange this way,

Upon a life I did not live, upon a death I did not die, I stake my whole eternity.

For reasons that I cannot comprehend, God loved Naaman and chose to save him despite his sins and idolatry. I find it equally perplexing that only Naaman was healed of leprosy in the days of Elisha. God’s hand was not shortened, but like Gehazi they would not seek the cure or the God who heals.

Zechariah promised a day of mourning was coming and that “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness” (Zechariah 13:1). That day happened two thousand years ago, and that fountain is still open and cleansing today. Jesus doesn’t just cleanse the outside, he washes us in our inward parts, he makes our hearts new, he transforms our souls, he makes us new creations. He works in his greatest enemies, he worked in the Syrians, he worked in the Assyrians, he worked in the Babylonians, and chiefest of all, he works in you and I.

A leper was hopeless, but you can be a leper and know God intimately and have an expectation of eternal healing. A sinner is more hopeless, they are without God in the world and have no hope of redemption in themselves. Take a moment to consider the worst, most debased, most hopeless, most irredeemable sinner you know…maybe they’re looking at you in the mirror, and know that God is able to cleanse them, even them, from sin.

Now there are some incurable diseases, but sin is not one of them! ~ S. M. Lockridge

Washed in the Blood

Three days later Jesus defeated death, proving he had laid down his life so that he could take it back up again and open the gates of heaven to people who heretofore had been banned from entry.

In heaven there will be one man with scars, and it won’t be Naaman or Paul or Isaiah, it will be the one we call the “Lamb who was slain.” You’ll be able to see the nail pierced hands that are healing nations, the bruised heal that crushed the serpent’s head, the scar where his broken heart was revealed, and his head where the Lord of all was crowned with scorn. You’ll also be able to see his navel which proves he was and is fully God and fully man.

For the rest of us, who have a multitude of scars on earth, we must realize that it’s not just leprosy that’s banned from heaven: scabs, scars, deformities, all of these will keep a person out of heaven. If you think you haven’t been afflicted by the fall, just consider your bellybutton which proves you need a Saviour. Even if you somehow kept yourself entirely from sin, the effect of the curse of sin would be enough to bar you from the presence of God:

He shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them. ~ Leviticus 21:23

Heaven, the ultimate sanctuary of God, is closed to you. Even though Jesus has opened heaven’s gates, we have this continuing guarantee, “its gates will never be shut by day–and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false” (Revelation 21:25–27)…But, if you’ll come to Jesus, you can partake in a wonderful promise, just one more reason to love the Lord Christ,

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. ~ Ephesians 5:25–27

If your hope of sanctification is in a law, it is useless,

For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. ~ Hebrews 7:18–19

There is one hope that saves, Christ in us, the hope of glory.

We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the veil, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf. ~ Hebrews 6:19–20

If you’re in a place where you can sing, then sing William Cowper’s magnificent hymn, There is a Fountain Filled With Blood (if not, just read),

There is a fountain filled with blood

Drawn from Immanuel's veins;

And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,

Lose all their guilty stains.

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