You can’t take it with you
“By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. — 2 Kings 5:5
Summertime travel. Most of us pack. Some of us overpack.
You know who you are.
Naaman is an over packer. Now it’s true that MasterCard, Visa and even PayPal are not accepted where he’s going, so the silver and gold are good to go. But ten sets of clothing?
The irony of the clothes is that they don’t hide him when he most likely wants to be hidden from others and perhaps even himself—and that’s when he wades out into the Jordan River on a health quest that, to him in the moment, may be as foolish as some outrageous or outlandish health claims we have this season.
Scripture doesn’t tell us what Naaman wears in the water. Maybe he is covered in a full set of clothes, but he’s not wearing ten sets.
The point is he couldn’t take it with him. Those clothes covered his leprosy—that awful, gross, body deforming disease. Without them, he had to take steps of humility as he made his way into the water.
Naaman didn’t just leave clothes behind. He had to leave his pride and control on the shoreline, too.
I don’t know where you’re walking today, but leaving behind your pride and control will likely help you have a healthier day.
PRAYER: I choose to take You with me, Lord. Amen.
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