As Jesus entered Samaria (Luke 17:11-19), He encountered 10 men who were outcasts from society - they had contracted leprosy. Lepers were deemed incurable and contagious in that culture; therefore, all lepers were cast out of their homes and villages and were not allowed to have contact with people who did not have leprosy. If anyone without leprosy came near, they called out "unclean, unclean" to notify people that they were socially unacceptable and not to be touched.
Jesus did the miraculous - he healed them of their leprosy with a deliberate word from God. Their healing occurred as they rushed to the priest to receive his official declaration that they were free of leprosy.
The surprising thing is that only one of the men who was healed, a Samaritan, returned to Jesus to express gratitude for his healing. It makes us wonder why the other 9 never came back to give thanks. Some of their reasons could be the same as our reasons for being ungrateful.
1.) Arrogance - Why express gratitude when it was Jesus' job to heal people; He was just doing His job.
2.) Entitlement - Jesus was a rabbi and they were Jews - only the Samaritan outcast should return to give thanks.
3.) Later - We will go back and give thanks after we are reunited with our families and friends.
4.) Heritage - Parents never modeled giving thanks.
5.) Frustration - It is about time God did something for us since we have been praying for help for so long with no answers.
6.) Selfishness - I deserve to be healed. I never asked for this disease and I have been a godly person all my life.
I trust that none of these six postures are yours. Take this opportunity to give deep gratitude to God and to those around you for the blessings you have received from Him and from them.
Filled with thanksgiving ~ Bob
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Welcome to the table, friend!
This is where we gather and hang out. I'd love for you to pull up a chair and jump right into the conversation. Or simply say 'hello.'
l'll be dropping in to visit you sometime soon ...
Linda