Growth Purpose

Breaking the Rules

He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” – Mark 5:34

There’s an old saying the “familiarity breeds contempt.” The idea is that the more something is commonplace the less we think of it as special. Sometimes familiarity can also breed complacency. For Christians, this often happens when a story that we’ve heard from youth looses its meaning. The miracles of the Gospel can be seemingly commonplace and expected because we saw the flannelgraph characters since childhood. It becomes another “same old, same old” rather than an astounding act of God’s grace.

The story of the bleeding woman who is healed is no different. Here is a woman who had been suffering from a humiliating and life-altering ailment for over ten years who was healed simply with a touch of faith. A life was changed for not only was she healed, she was once again accepted.

To realize the power of this act, we have to recognize what the rabbinical rules were for those who suffered from this condition. Leviticus 15:25 indicates that this woman was “ceremonially unclean” which meant that she couldn’t worship, socialize, or participate in community as a “normal” person. She was ostracized from the rest of a society that few of us can imagine. Yet, when she met Jesus, she was in the midst of a crowd. In a place where everyone was battling for Christ’s attention, He reached out to the one that wasn’t supposed to be there.

It’s not only stories from the Gospels that become familiar to us. In some instances the Gospel itself – the Good News of salvation- can become commonplace in our lives. This should never be. We, just like the woman who was healed, should be shattering boundaries and breaking the rules in order to meet with our Savior. Nothing should keep us from being at His feet. Nothing should stop us from feeling His touch.

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Growth

Unqualified Generosity


It’s a debate that perhaps you’ve had – either with yourself or with friends. What do you do when you someone on the street asks for money, food or help? On one side, people cite documented or experienced deceit, when people have acted like they were in need when they really weren’t. There is also the point that organizations exist to provide such needed assistance. Additionally, people raise legitimate fears about how the money will be spent or perhaps, there are appropriate safety concerns for the potential giver. All of these make sense. All of these are rational explanations of why we should gently shake our head “no” and move one. And yet, the other side contends, Jesus never addressed any of these. All He said was that what you did for the least of this world, would be credited as good done to Him.

It’s interesting how we want to put qualifiers on our lives where Christ doesn’t put any. So many times people reject Christianity because of all the restrictions, and yet sometimes, we as Christians use our own “logic” to offer additional ones. Maybe the reasons for these are well-intentioned, but sometimes, I fear that they conflict with Scripture. Particularly in the case of giving. Scripture says “God loves a cheerful giver” not a well-intentioned, or a well-rationed, one.

The generosity that God commanded was unqualified. He said “give” to those that He puts us into contact with. The rest, the outcome, just like every outcome in our lives, is up to Him.

*Postscript – Although God has called us to be generous, He has also called us to be wise. One way to mitigate many of the concerns raised above, is to have a stash of fast food gift cards at the ready to add out to those in need. In my own walk as a reluctant giver, it’s been a great way to follow Christ’s commands of generously giving.

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