Making the Difference - Naaman's maid

On Sunday morning I spoke in Church on the topic Making the Difference. The text was taken from 2 King 5 and we focused on the young girl who was the slave of Naaman. She made the difference in Naaman's life by becoming the crucial link to his healing and his eventual salvation.

We do not know the girl's name and the Bible only gives two description of her. She was young and a captive. When we say someone is young, it implies that the person is inexperienced, naive, playful and even immature. As a captive she had no rights of her own and no social standing. She was literally a nobody. Yet God used this "nobody" to touch the life of the mighty general. You and I can be a nobody in this world but still God can use us as an influence for His purposes. In 1 Cor 1:26-27, Paul says, " Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of this world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him.

How did she make a difference in the life of Naaman?

• She saw the need of the general. She had the solution, In spite of all his greatness, the general was a leper who desperately needed help. The world out there is in desperate need of a saviour. Do we see the need or just walk by like the priest and the levite in the parable of the good Samaritan?
• She searched for an opportunity to reach the general's need. As a slave and a maid, she may not have had access to the general but she had access to the general's wife and she used this means to reach him. What ingenuity. Even in the commercial world, the advertisers reach the pockets of the parents through advertisements that are attractive to the children. God's people should be on the lookout for innovative means to reach the dying world.
• She seized the opportunity. She did not let her anger, hatred or feelings of hurt to come in her way. She could have been silent, taken revenge on the general by keeping quiet and let him die for the crimes he had committed against her and her people. Yet she was true to the calling of Israel, to be a" lighthouse to the nations".
• She scarified her life for the opportunity. Have you ever wondered what would have happened if the King of Israel reacted negatively or if Naaman refused to dip into the Jordon River? Two countries could have gone to war if the Prophet Elisha or Naaman's servants did not intervene at the right time. And that would have meant death to the little girl. She probably did not realise that her life was at stake when she said, If only my master would see the prophet in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy". Friends it cost something to be an influence in someone's life. It may take time, money and even our lives to be a crucial link in someone's life.

Jesus gave His life to become a crucial link in your life and mine. Phi 2:5-7 - Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Who, being in the very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in the appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even the death on a cross.

How much more should we?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF9wo9sVn2c