Devotion
The price of greed
David Jacobs

I go to a gym regularly. At my gym, you need to pay to buy a card in order to use the showers. One day I saw a shower card on the ground, and I took the card and thought little of it. I figured that I could use it sometime and the person that lost it might not care or notice. A few days later, the gym asked if I had found the card, and feeling guilty for doing so, I had to sheepishly turn in the card with less money on it. It was a moment of weakness and embarrassment, and I have hopefully learned my lesson.

In these verses, Naaman comes to Elisha expecting to be immediately cured of his skin disease. Elisha tells Naaman to clean himself in a nearby river, which Naaman eventually does. Naaman is thrilled to be cured of his disease and offers to pay Elisha a considerable amount for curing him. Elisha does not accept the offer, but one of the followers of Elisha, Gehazi, quickly follows Naaman and lies, saying that Elisha has changed his mind and wants the reward after all. When Elisha asks Gehazi what he has done, he lies again, and Elisha curses him with the skin disease that he had just cured Naaman of.

"What goes around comes around" is a phrase you may have heard. If you inject positive energy, generosity, and love to the world, that is what you shall receive in return. If you emit negative energy, sin, and take from the world, that is what you will receive in return.

Prayer

Nobody is free of sin, myself included. Is some reward money or a shower card at the gym worth knowing that what you did was wrong? Repent, learn, and repeat. Ask the Lord for forgiveness. He is waiting.