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Day 98, or April the 8th.

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Keep it simple, stupid.

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Our thoughts are rooted in 2 Kings chapter 5 verse 13.

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Naaman's servants went to him and said, My father, if the prophet had told you to do

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some great thing, would you not have done it?

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How much more, then, when he tells you, Wash and be cleansed?

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And the big picture surrounding this verse.

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After Elijah is taken up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elisha remains and is involved in many miracles,

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including the healing of Naaman.

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Naaman wanted something difficult so that, in a sense, he was earning his healing.

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But God doesn't work that way.

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Some of Elisha's miracles seem trivial and defy logic when you first read about them,

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such as a floating axe-head.

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That's just impossible.

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However, if it were not impossible, then it wouldn't be a miracle, would it?

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Arguing against miracles does tend to take you round in circles until you finally acknowledge

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that if God is God, then miracles are well within his sphere of influence.

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Whether or not we can understand them or explain how they work is often not a fruitful part

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of the debate.

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Now today's action step.

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If it's simple, then it can't be edifying or effective.

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Some say this about the Gospel, and, like Naaman of old, they are in danger of missing

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the blessing because it doesn't stretch them intellectually.

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I remember working with a man who was annoyed whenever he recalled that, as a child, he

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was told by his vicar that the Holy Trinity was a mystery.

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My colleague insisted that it was the job of the clergy to explain everything if they

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were truly men of God.

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How could an intelligent man actually believe that?

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I know you can get a pocket-sized Bible, but a pocket-sized God is a contradiction in terms.

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It took a simple Jewish girl to help Naaman understand and resolve his dilemma.

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When God tells you to do the simple thing, just do it.

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Remember, we are saved by faith, not by intellect.

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Be childlike today, because it's the only way to truly understand.