God Is Always There

From my book, Nothing Worth Doing Is Easy...

I often find myself having a lot of trouble accepting the fact that no matter what I do, God will always be there waiting for me to ask for help, as well as the fact that the gift of salvation has already been extended and is something that I need only accept and hold onto. I always have, for as long as I can remember. As I’ve come to realize many of my struggles are, that one is also rooted in the years of indoctrination I was subjected to throughout my formative years. I don’t really like to admit it, but even more than a decade after I was able to escape from that former life, I still battle many of the same feelings of inadequacy and the sensation that if I just do this or that a little bit less or if I study a little bit harder, I can finally be good enough to earn the greatest of all gifts.

There’s no better illustration of the flaw in that logic that I can think of than the story of Jesus and the leper in Mark chapter 1, verses 40-42. For those who might not be familiar with it, the story goes like this in the New American Standard Bible, “And a leper came to Jesus, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him saying, ‘If you are willing, You can make me clean.’ Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I am willing. Be cleansed.’ Immediately, the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.”

What an incredible, albeit short, story! Despite being just three short verses in length, that is a story that contains some of the strongest imagery and messaging a Christian can hope to find just about anywhere. Not only does it illustrate what faith can accomplish, but it shows a power most, if not all, of us as humans can never even imagine. The power to heal even the most troublesome and potentially insurmountable issues.

In the world in which the events described in that story took place, leprosy was such a feared and reviled disease that a person wouldn’t even have to actually have it to be declared unclean and turned into the ultimate social outcast, left to fend for themselves away from the rest of the community. Simply being in the presence of a suspected leper was practically unthinkable. Forget actually touching one.

Jesus could have simply looked at that man and done what everyone else in the world at that time did, which essentially amounted to shouts of “Unclean! Unclean,” and running away. If He had done that, it would have been seen as completely justified by everyone around, but He didn’t. He was so moved by compassion for the man that He literally risked His own life and touched him, at the same time, showing His awesome healing power. You can’t get much more compassionate than that.

I read things like that and genuinely can’t understand why I ever question any aspect of my relationship with Jesus Christ. If Jesus was so moved by compassion and had so much power while still walking the earth as a man as to accomplish that, who are we to place limits on Him now? The leper in that story was unable to heal himself and couldn’t have recovered from his ailment on his own, but simply with the touch of His hand, Jesus made it all go away. That healing power was extended to the rest of the world, including me, when He was willingly sacrificed on the cross not too long after his encounter with that man.

And not only was the potential for healing extended to everyone across the world in that moment, but that potential becomes reality with nothing more than a simple acceptance of that gift. No work of our own will ever be enough and for that reason, no work is expected. The gift truly is free to all who choose to accept it.

Obviously, I realize it seems odd to call the crucifixion of Jesus a “willing sacrifice” on the face of it, but that’s exactly what it was, in reality. Jesus knew why it was all happening and could easily have exercised His limitless power to put a stop to the events of that day and the suffering He endured, but that isn’t what happened. The whole scenario went on just as the leaders of the Jews wanted it to and Jesus simply stood firm and let it happen.

Yes, I have a lot of memories I’d just as soon forget and I’ve done a lot of things I’m not exactly proud of over the years, but what makes me so different from that leper? How are my mistakes and struggles any worse than what he had to endure? The short answer is, they’re not. Not by a long shot.

In fact, if anything, my struggles aren’t nearly as bad. I do have some medical issues that can’t be healed by known medical science, but no mistake or previous failing can ever be enough to take away the promise of eternal life that was sealed on that fateful day on the Cross.

As for my inability to always fully accept that knowledge, well, that’s a human failing. Yes, it’s true that I can never be good enough and I can never clean up enough to be worthy of it, but that doesn’t mean He didn’t already willingly extend a hand out of the same incomprehensible compassion that was extended to that leper. It’s up to each and every one of us as His followers to simply approach Jesus the way that leper did and say, “I know You can heal me.”