RECOGNIZE AND BE RECOGNIZED

Overvoming the leper’s curse.

This inspiration has been in my heart since Father’s day.

When we accept others for who they are we too will be accepted for who we are. This is not just a general concept but we need to give recognition where recognition is due.

Honor your parents for this is good before the Lord. Submit to authority (spiritual, political or company) because all authority comes from God.

When we reject, ignore, undermine what God has given to us to recognize; we activate a cycle of rejection against ourselves; recognize and be recognized.

Man rejects God, earth rejects man and fruitfulness rejects the earth and it begins to produce thorns for man.

We live in a society that suffers from the cycle of rejection. Children reject their parents; citizens reject their governments; sheep reject their shepherds. Everyone is in need of recognition but no one is ready to give it first where they must give it. We can trace this cycle to Adam’s rejection of his father, his creator; GOD.

In Luke 17:11-19: Jesus meets 10 lepers. These are a rejected class in the Jewish society as their disease is deemed highly infectious and is attached to a curse (Numbers 12:10).

Jesus doesnt pray for them but sends them to present themselves before the priest; the authority figure in the temple. Their healing was hidden in 1. Following the instruction of Jesus 2. Recognizing the authority in the temple.

These 10 were healed on the way of following instructions but only one came back to recognize the source of his healing. If the 9 lepers who were healed could not recognize the source of their healing, I dont think any of them even made it to present themselves before the priest as instructed.

When those who were once marginalised from their environments and societies began to enjoy the embrace and approval of their peers; they forget where they came from. They attribute their achievements, successes in life to themselves and nobody else.

Therefore leprosy in figurative terms can be considered as being too aware of yourself than others. You are too much in your skin and have become insentitive and blind to those around you. In this state you may have everything but you live as though you have nothing because you are not grateful for what has been given to you.

Receiving Jesus is undoing the cycle of rejection activated by the first Adam. We receive Jesus and we are received by God. We are also received by life and we find our place among the living.

#RecognizeAndBeRecognized

#OvercomeTheLepersCurse

By Pastor Ebenezer Kiluba