By Ann Farabee

Who is your favorite person in the Bible? There are certainly many to choose from! In the King James Version, there are 1,940 specific names of people. Feel free to prove me wrong — let me know how your counting goes!

Gehazi is your favorite, right?

Same here. No, I had never heard of him, either.

If I had heard of him, I had forgotten him.

Just in case you need a review on Gehazi, I will fill you in. Someone with a G, H and Z in his first name has to be an interesting character. Actually, we can all relate to Gehazi in one way — he had problems. Problems here. Problems there. Problems. Problems. Everywhere.

Gehazi was a servant of Elisha. Elisha taught others to help ordinary people in need. Yay, Elisha!

Gehazi was known for his get-rich-quick schemes. Boo, Gehazi!

Surely, there is a lesson for us to learn here. As a servant of Elisha, Gehazi witnessed many miracles. He saw a boy come back to life again. He saw a poisonous pot of stew become purified and safe to eat. But 2 Kings Chapter 5 reveals that Gehazi had greed in his heart.

Even though Gehazi was surrounded by good, his heart was bad.

Naaman, who had learned lessons of humility and obedience, was healed after following what Elisha instructed him to do. When Naaman wanted to give gifts to Elisha, Elisha would not accept them.

Gehazi showed up and decided to wrongly take Naaman’s gifts for himself.

Because of his deceit, he was turned away and rebuked by Elisha.

Leprosy then invaded Gehazi’s body and the bodies of his descendants. Even though Gehazi had seen miracles during his life, he had no humility and had become corrupt.

Consequences come from choices. Gehazi had served in the church, but he still faced consequences from sinful choices. Even though Gehazi was surrounded by opportunities to make good decisions, he did not.

Although he had been a helpful servant at one time, personal gain had become more important.

Just because we serve God does not mean we will not have challenges.

Life is not perfect. We will have challenges.

Gehazi was greedy and deceitful. He had also once been a helpful servant.

Gehazi accepted money that did not belong to him. He implied that the money could be exchanged for God’s free gift of healing.

True service to God is motivated by love. Love God. Love people.

May we all, as servants of God, serve each other well.

Jesus did. So should we.