Lessons from the ten lepers

"Thy faith hath mad thee whole." Luke 17:19

Luke writes, "there met him ten...lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said...God shew yourselves unto the priests. And...as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them...turned back, and...glorified God...Jesus...said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?...And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: they faith hath made thee whole" (Lk 17:12-19). Observe three things in this story:
(1) When people reject you, you start thinking God does too. Because of their problem, these mean were rejected by society. So when they met Christ they expected more of the same. But no, the Bible says, "When you draw close to God He will draw close to you" (see Jas 4:8). So come, bring your problem to Him. He's the great problem-solver! (2) Sometimes you have to "walk it out." We read, "As they went, they were cleansed." Sometimes change take place quickly, but mose time it happens slowly, step-by-step. You don't know exactly which step will bring victory, so you need to keep walking in faith. Before a leper was welcomed back into society the priest had to pronounce him "clean." How wonderful; Jesus saw the change in these men before it ever took place. That's because He has the power to make it happen. So keep walking! (3) Gratitude and praise are so important to God. This story reminds us how quickly we forget God's goodness, how much our praises mean to Him, and that only one in ten of us will pass the gratitude test. But that one becomes "whole."