And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
The leper, having been healed by the Lord, was given a charge (v. 43), which is explained to us in verse 44.
- He was to say nothing to any man about it.
- He was to go his way and do as the Word of God commanded.
- He was to do it "for a testimony unto them."
The Bible doesn't tell us whether he went to the priest and offered those things Moses commanded. Instead, it tells us that he went out and began telling everyone that he had been healed and how the healing came about.
Most in my circles have some difficulty with this passage.
- We have trouble explaining why Jesus wouldn't want him to publish it abroad.
- We tend to commend the man for getting the news of Jesus out there.
But I notice that the Bible says, "insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places..." In other words, what the man did resulted in Jesus no longer being able to openly enter the city as He had before.
I am thankful that the good news still got out and that people still came to the Lord. But I want to suggest that there is much too much of this sort of Christianity in the world today. We see people benefiting from the Lord, and rather than carefully learning the Word of God and obeying it, they ignore the Bible and simply "preach Jesus." I believe what we are witnessing is an obvious decline in sound faith and practice. Good doctrine and faithful Christian testimony are both suffering.
The world knows it.
The boldness of the lost to expose the hypocrisy and double standards of modern believers has increased substantially, even in my own lifetime. Christians are just as likely to have broken marriages, to be dishonest on the job, to double-cross a friend, or to give worldly counsel. In a word, Christians are often no better than unbelievers by almost any standard the world uses to measure us.
But we have some really big churches out there, don't we?
I am thankful that our Lord's eternal plan does not depend on us. He allows us to have a part in it, but His purposes are not determined by our faithfulness—they are accomplished despite our failures.
I do not mean to imply that we should not speak openly and boldly of the Lord and what He has done in our lives. We should. But our testimony is not established by our words alone. It is established by our faithful obedience to His Word.
And our testimony is far more powerful when our lives support our words.
#ObedienceIsTheBestTestimony #FaithfulToHisWord #BiblicalChristianity #TestimonyThroughObedience #Mark1v44KJV
Good Intentions May Actually Hinder God's Work: Obedience Gives Witness Credibility
What do you think? Why do you think Jesus gave the healed leper this command? Do you believe our testimony is strengthened more by our words or by our faithful obedience? Share your thoughts in the comments—I would enjoy hearing from you.
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