2 Kings 5:17-18 “ (Naaman said) ‘Please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the Lord. But may the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I bow there also–when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant for this.’ ‘Go in peace,’ Elisha said.’”

God’s grace can’t be bought, but it can and does create a complete makeover of the human soul and inspire a response of praise. Naaman’s desire to worship God illustrates the point.

Some people see worshiping God as an incidental part of their faith and morals, a less important side effect, if you will. The details of how they worship, where they worship, if they worship aren’t very important to them. What really matters is how you live your life. Are you honest? Are you kind? Do you respect others and their things? These are the things, they say, that really matter. These are the things that truly display your faith.

This is backwards. Honesty, kindness and respect are good things. But virtues like this are a dime a dozen. I know plenty of atheists who live this way.

The one thing that distinguishes believers in the God of Scripture from any others, or from those who believe nothing at all, is that the Bible believers gather to worship the God who revealed himself to Israel and sent his Son Jesus to save us. They do it on a regular basis. He included this in his 10 commandments. Love God comes before love your neighbor. People who get God’s grace get why worshiping him is important, too.

Naaman certainly did. From now on he would worship only the Lord, the God of Israel. As a way of making it clear this was his God, he would worship only on soil he dug up and carried back from Israel. And just to be clear, if his knees had to bend a little in the temple of the false god Rimmon while Naaman was fulfilling his state duties, he was not worshiping that God anymore. He worshiped the Lord, whose gifts can’t be bought, but they can inspire a response of worship and praise.