lepers

God is not Far Away

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole. Luke 17:17-19 KJV

To understand this story we need understand a little about leprosy in the Bible. Far from being just an affliction of the poor, those with leprosy ranged from generals and kings to even a man named Simon who was one of Jesus’ closest friends. Because of both the law and its contagious nature, those with leprosy were required to live separately from others.  Without divine intervention eventually lepers all ended up outside of town with no companions except for their fellow lepers. That is where Jesus met the ten men that day. When they first saw Jesus they shouted at the top of their lungs for help from a distance. They had heard how Jesus had healed others and hoped that He would do the same for them.

India and Nepal 231

Don’t we all pray like that some days? God seems far away; but we hope that if we ask loudly enough, maybe He will listen. What we need to know is that Jesus is actually a lot more willing to help us than we think. In fact just as healing the ten lepers was the main event for Jesus that day so your request and mine matters deeply to Him right now. He knows our hearts and He chooses to come close even when others stay away. But transformation from leprosy to health is only the beginning of what God has in mind. What He really wants is to be close and for us to fall at Jesus’ feet and be made whole as we give thanks!

Rejoice-Pray-Give Thanks

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:16‭-‬18

When I worked as a tree climber years ago I learned that my life depended on my rope. Our ropes in those days were generally three separate cords woven together. Each cord could have held our weight but in the case of a sudden fall the breaking point of that strand was only one tenth of its load capacity. By having a rope of three woven strands we were assured that in any situation we would be held safely. In the same way God has woven together a three stranded lifeline to hold us. In the past I always carved up these verses into three separate commands, but as I read this morning I realized they are in fact three strands of just one cord in Jesus Christ.

We must rejoice because by His amazing grace He has chosen to come to us no matter how humble our place. The Bible tells us that He is not ashamed to call us brothers. He is willing to include us in His family.

We should always pray, because our Lord like a brother will always listen. There is nothing that affects our life that does not concern Him. Since He has taken the time to count the hairs on our head how can we doubt that He will help us in even our smallest struggles? Remember that He said. “Without me you can do nothing!” John 15:5

Give thanks. Ingratitude will not undo the miracle of God’s healing, but it will keep us from a close relationship with Jesus. In Luke’s gospel we see that one day Jesus healed ten lepers. They had all prayed and all rejoiced but only one remembered to say thanks.

He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Luke 17:16

The bible does not say that the other nine lost their healing or that they had sinned. But the man who was thankful was the only one who worshipped at the feet of Jesus. The three stranded rope of this man’s faith brought him all the way to an intimate relationship with Christ. Today we are just the same as any of these lepers. We all have a need for a miracle and we all can rejoice in His amazing grace, but only when we are truly grateful will we know how to worship God. He is so kind and good to us all. Will we be found at His feet today?