January 10 You Can Heal Me
Genesis 23:1–24:51 Matthew 8:1-17 Psalm 9:13-20 Proverbs 3:1-6
HIS DISEASE probably started with just a few painful spots. Then the spots went numb. Slowly his body became a mass of ulcerated growths. To be a leper in Jesus’ day was to have no future and no hope, to know only ongoing deteriora-tion, disfigurement, and despair.
The effects of leprosy on a person’s body provide a vivid picture of the ef-fects of sin on a person’s soul. Just as it takes only one spot to indicate that a person’s body is permeated with leprosy, one spot of sin in our lives reveals that we have the spiritual disease that has permeated our whole selves. Our thoughts, our emotions, and our wills have all become infected with sin. Like leprosy, it infects the whole person, and it is ugly, loathsome, corruptive, contaminating, and alienating. Ultimately our transgressions lead to death.
So in reaching out to heal leprosy, Jesus showed that his touch can heal us of the most destructive, deadly disease in our lives—the disease of sin. When he touches us, we become joined to him so that his very own life and health flow into us. And as much as we pray for our children to be physically healthy and whole, we realize that this is the health and wholeness that matters most of all.
Lord, we come to you knowing that you are the only one who can deal with the deadly disease of sin. And we are desperate for your healing touch. Won’t you please touch ________ and bring healing to the wounded places where sin has left its ugly mark? Won’t you please cleanse ________ of the sin that only leads to death? Give to ________ your very own life and health. We know that this healing will be a lifetime process, but we beg you, do not delay or withhold your healing touch even as we look forward to the day when we will be completely healed and whole.
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