Ministering: Pastor Shola Awobajo.
Text: Luke 17:11-19.
“ 11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. 17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”
Every time praises rise up to God, He intervenes speedily. Psalm 22:3 says God inhabits the praises of His People. God feels refreshed and elated anytime men praise Him. Ps. 149 says let the high praise of God be on their mouth and He will hand over a double-edged sword unto them to execute judgment on their enemies. Sorrow in the heart is a hindrance to praising God, but as believers, we should turn them to instruments of praise to God.
Our above Text relates, to how The Lord heeded the call of 10 lepers for healing, He had compassion on them and gave them an instruction to go show themselves to the priest, on their way, they were healed but only one deemed fit to return to give thanks and praise to God. The Lord was surprised that only one came back, He made whole the one that returned to give thanks. Prior to our Salvation, we are like the 10 lepers that came to meet The Lord, because as Gentiles, we were like lepers that were outcast and enemies to God. We need to be ever grateful to God for our Salvation in Christ Jesus.
The Lord never deals with the externals but with the internals. He looks always to the heart and not really the outward appearance. The grateful leper though a Samaritan was made whole. Many do not see the reason to give thanks for every work of God, rather they focus on the next item on their list.
Many believers celebrate the gifts of God so much that they even ignore The Giver of The Gift.
We all need to change our attitude before God; a grateful heart we should bring to Him and not a murmuring heart.
The 9 ungrateful lepers were celebrating the gift at the expense of The Giver of The Gift. The One Grateful Leper came prostrating indicating he was submitting to The Lordship of Christ and wanting a personal relationship with Him. He wanted to be more glued to The Lord.
Our being alive has not been by our power but by The Spirit of God. Grateful people always return to give thanks. It is easy for grateful people to submit themselves to God. Ungrateful people disdain the giver of things; they even look down on both the gift and the giver. Ungrateful people possess an arrogant and entitlement mentality.
In closing, Isaiah 51:11 – Therefore the redeemed of The Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
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