READING: 2 Kings 4-5, John 8:48-9:12
I wonder what people think about me when they meet me. Do they see me as arrogant? As aloof? As kind? As talkative? As introverted? As rude? As educated? I’m not always self-aware enough to know how I come across to others, and I’m introverted enough that I wouldn’t typically ask others their thoughts.
I know what I want to happen, though: I want others to see me as a holy man, like the Shunammite woman in today’s reading saw Elisha: “I know that the one who often passes by here is a holy man of God” (2 Kgs 4:9). The prophet was a unique man in a unique time of Hebrew history, but God’s Word echoes with calls for us to be holy (e.g., Exo 22:31, Lev 19:2, 1 Pet 1:15). We represent a holy God who requires us to be holy—and ignoring this command is not an option.
So, I again ask how people see me when they meet me, but I also wonder how my wife sees me in my good times and my bad times. Do those who first meet me sense that I’m holy, and does my wife—the person who knows me best and sees me most—think the same?
As the Shunammite woman came to know Elisha through his travels, she saw him as a holy man of God who followed God wholly. That’s the way I pray people see me—as holy, set apart, rejecting temptation and magnifying God in all I do. Please pray for me.
PRAYER: “Jesus, I want others to see You in me. Convict me of my sin, and turn my heart ever to You.”
TOMORROW’S READING: 2 Kings 6-8, John 9:13-41
