Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

And he fell on his face at his feet, giving thanks to him. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, “Were not ten cleansed? And where are the nine? Was no one found to turn back and give praise to God except this foreigner?”

Luke 17:16-18

The art of forgetting. If we didn’t have it, we would be overwhelmed with the information that our brains are noticing, cataloguing, and taking in. To prevent this, we actively forget things. Active forgetting removes irrelevant information and gives us flexibility in our behaviour. It is the mechanism by which we wade through everything and only remember the stuff we decide is important. Significantly, this process is UNCONSCIOUS. We have ALREADY decided what is important. Our brains use that decision to vet the information it receives about ourselves and the world around us. It will ignore everything that doesn’t fall into the category of what we have ALREADY decided is important. For example, decades ago I learned a work ethic. The job you start needs to be completed. Period. That is important. When I complete a job, I will sometimes find a small cut, bruise, or wound days later. I don’t know when it happened. I don’t remember it happening. But right there is the evidence in my flesh. That small wound was deemed irrelevant to the importance of completing the job. In fact, my brain may have decided that paying attention to the injury would have taken my mind off the job and reduced my ability to complete it, so it refused to pay attention at the time of injury. What we decide is important is VERY important to how we live.

In the Bible, there are many things covered by the word ‘leprosy’. It can be full-blown Hansen’s Disease or it could be a multitude of skin-related conditions. Since you needed to be healthy (disease and condition-free) in order to participate in Temple activities, and since you needed to participate in Temple activities to be cleansed from sins, being a leper REALLY impacted your life. Anything you touched became ritually unclean (Leviticus 15:6; Numbers 19:22). Anyone you touched became ritually unclean (Leviticus 5:3). This was a big deal and it made you an outcast. In minor cases you were talking about living in the community, but informing others about being unclean so they were warned. In major cases, you lived outside the community (but supported by the community). In Jesus’ day the practise was to call out that you were unclean to ANYONE you saw nearby so that they would know and could avoid you. So in addition to any issues, discomfort, or pain from the condition/disease they were dealing with, any Jew with leprosy was VERY motivated to not have it anymore.

Ten lepers approached Jesus asking for cleansing (Luke 17:11-19). This happened between Samaria and Galilee. They stood at a distance and called to Him as He was approaching a village. They asked for mercy. Jesus did NOT pronounce healing, but told them to go show themselves to the priests (Leviticus 14:11). Since it involved sacrifice, it would have to be at the Temple. Interestingly, one of the lepers was a Samaritan. He would NOT have been allowed in the Temple. He obeyed with the others, but would have had severe difficulties following through. Jesus often had people DO things to show their trust in Adonai regarding the healing and deliverance they were asking for. It is Adonai’s will for everyone to be healed, but He is NOT going to force it on you. WE must put our trust in Him and engage what He provided in Jesus. That is what He was asking them to do. They were not healed standing in front of Him, but as they demonstrated their submission to His request and their trust that when they arrived at the priests they would be clean (it wouldn’t do to waste the priest’s time), they were cleansed.

When he saw that he no longer had the condition, one man turned back and came to express his gratitude to Jesus. While all ten were CLEANSED. Only THIS ONE MAN was made WHOLE (Luke 17:19, KJV). It is not clear in the Word exactly what that means, but Jesus made a distinct difference between the end condition of the two groups. What MADE the difference? The condition of the heart. One was GRATEFUL, nine were THANKFUL. Only one showed gratitude while the rest were thankful that it happened – and probably really happy that they could take up their proper lives again. For nine of them, the important thing was rejoining society as a whole and again interacting with Adonai through the Temple system (the Old Covenant). For one of them, the important thing was that he was saved from his condition and acknowledging the source of that saving as a demonstration of its importance. Nine were concerned about outside matters. One was concerned about inside matters. Because of this, nine of them FORGOT who did it. It was an irrelevant detail to what they had in their hearts. The important thing for them was that they were clean. The important thing for the Samaritan was that Adonai had saved him. That importance was what got him WHOLE (the New Covenant).

Again and again we are told to focus on Adonai in the Word. We’re told to start and end our days with a focus on Adonai. We’re told to make sure He is a central talking point as we go about our days and our lives. It doesn’t matter if we are at work, travelling somewhere, eating, or sitting in our homes. We are to make sure that Adonai is part of the conversation. I remember having an issue with my vehicle once and my father offered to take it to his mechanic. I was welcome to come along IF I didn’t mind talking Jesus. The mechanic could not get through a conversation without bringing Jesus into it. That is the level of focusing on Adonai that we are called to. We don’t all make it, and we don’t all make it all the time, but that’s the direction we’re to be moving in. Fire, once lit, spreads to every surface that it can use as fuel. Once we have Jesus inside our hearts, we are meant to spread Him into our WHOLE selves – ALL our thinking, ALL our speaking, and ALL our actions: “For indeed our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29).

What is in our hearts determines who we are as people (Proverbs 23:7). Jesus commanded us to REMEMBER what He did for us (Mark 14:22-25,Luke 22:18-20,1 Corinthians 11:23-25). Memory is a HUGE BENEFIT to us walking in Jesus’ Way. It trains our flesh to understand that Adonai is THE important thing for us. That HE is the metric by which we measure everything. Ruach HaKodesh works with us and through us, to help us remember our trust in Jesus – or that we CAN trust in Jesus in any given situation. If we are open to it, He will lead us in praise and thanksgiving to Adonai. Giving us the words (and the tune) to follow. It is a cooperative endeavour, but it HAS to be done with intent. That is how we maintain Adonai’s importance in our lives. That is how we keep Him in the place He deserves to be. We REMEMBER Him. Actively. On purpose. With intent. And we demonstrate our WILL to do that through our gratitude toward Him. When we show GRATITUDE through praise and worship of Adonai (led and guided by Ruach HaKodesh), we open the door to receiving ALL that Jesus has for us. We open the door to being made WHOLE, not just being washed off.

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: Proverbs 4:23

“With all vigilance, keep your heart, for from it comes the source of life.” Everything in our lives is regulated by our hearts. What we put INTO it, is what forms the foundation of what comes OUT of it. Our hearts put into our minds the memories we keep (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6306787/). No matter HOW much therapy we get, unless we change what is in our HEART, the memories will keep returning. Unless we change the image inside of ourselves, we do not change as people – we can be rich, but impoverished in our thinking. We cannot keep our minds trusting in Jesus unless the eyes of our hearts are on Him. If we do not get the Word into our heart where it can transform the soil of our soul (Romans 12:2; 2 Timothy 3:16-17), we won’t have what we need to succeed. And we ONLY succeed in our walk as believers when we are living in, through, and because of Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21; John 15:5). Ruach HaKodesh is DEDICATED to remind us of that so that WE can transform our hearts which transform our memories so that Jesus touches ALL of who we are, not just the surface bits. What a GOOD God!

Your Daily Confession of Elohim’s Goodness:

I taste and see that Yahweh is good; I am blessed because I take refuge in Him.

Psalm 34:8