The Difference One Makes

“And ONE went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid…” —2 Kings 5:4

2 Kings is about the healing of Naaman the leper. The story involves four servants: (1) A maid who served Naaman’s wife; (2) The servants of Naaman who encouraged him to follow Elisha’s instructions; (3) Gehazi, the servant of Elisha; and (4) the servant in our text to relayed the message of the maid. This servant was the most important of the four. Had he not passed on the message of the maid, there would be no story—The maid’s word to Naaman’s wife would have gone no further; Naaman would have never been sent to Elisha; Gehazi would have never been tempted to lie.

The whole account illustrates how one person can make a difference in the lives of many others. My pastor, Dr. Herbert Noe, was saved in a tuberculosis hospital reading a King James Bible someone put in the nightstand next to his bed. Little did that person know that his act would result in a ministry of over 40 years as Dr. Noe pastored the Galilean Baptist Church and trained hundreds of other pastor’s at Midwestern Baptist College (including myself).

Don’t let the devil deceive you into thinking what you do for God doesn’t make any difference. Be like Mary, of whom Jesus testified, “She hath done what she could… Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her” (Mk. 14:8-9).