Gehazi - The Renewal of the Mind Part Two

Following up on the Naaman post below, the story concludes with Gehazi, the servant of Elisha. Gehazi says to himself, "My master was too easy on this Aramean. AS SURELY AS GOD LIVES, I'm gonna go get me something from him." Do you see the irony in this statement? As surely as God lives, I'm going to go get some mammon. As surely as God lives, I'm going to go take advantage of this guy. God surely does live, and he sees the heart and knows the darkness that lives there. So why does Gehazi think he can do this and not suffer consequences from God?

And the thing about Gehazi is that he would not be the one living life among the pagans. He's the guy that you're likely to find sitting on a board and being very helpful around your church. From outward appearances, he is much further along than Naaman in this process of understanding who God is and how he relates (see Part One in previous post). But the problem is that Gehazi is moving in the wrong direction. Naaman still thinks he needs dirt from Israel to worship God and still finds his life compromised as he has to bow down to Rimmon with his master, but his heart is in the right place and his mind is moving in the right direction, so Elisha says to him, "go in peace." On the other hand, Gehazi is eagerly moving toward darkness, looking for a little mammon, seeing Naaman not as God sees him - a child of God to be healed - but rather as someone to be exploited. And in the end Gehazi lies repeatedly and deceives and Elisha calls it out for what it is, and Gehazi walks away with Naaman's leprosy.

Naaman shows that God is patient and works with us and through us by his word and sacraments to guide us through growth and change in the areas of our lives that are compromised by sin. Gehazi shows us that God takes sin and compromise seriously and God help us if we are ever comfortable in the areas of our lives that our compromised. Sin unchecked and nurtured will kill you. But we serve a God that is stronger than sin and who calls us to follow him to yield ourselves to him and to work out our salvation, exercise our faith, to his glory.