Last month I took some time to read through the gospels. Now when I read them, I didn't take the time to study what I was reading, nor did I really go searching for a deeper meaning in the context. I just wanted a clearer idea of who Jesus was, so I read the stories of his life on this earth....and that was that....or so I thought.
Over the past few weeks though I've been noticing a theme in my life, a theme that I realize now comes from the time I spent reading the gospels. You see, there is a story in them (you can find it in Luke 17) about a time when Jesus healed these ten lepers. Basically the synopsis of the story is that Jesus is traveling on his way to Jerusalem and as he reaches the boarder between the towns of Galilee and Samaria these ten guys who have leprosy (a disease that forced them to live outside of the community because of their "unclean" state) cry out to Him asking for healing. Jesus tells them to go show themselves to priest (which they needed to do by law in order to be declared "clean" and welcomed back into society) and on their way to the priest they are healed (talk about "Stepping" out in faith!). Yet only one leper returns to thank Jesus for his healing...the one who was a Samaritan (basically the biggest "outsider" of all these ten unclean "outsiders"). The story ends with Jesus saying, "Didn't I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God but this foreigner?". It's this story has changed my life!
You see, I use to be the girl who could go days without thanking God for anything. I would go about my day and some how forget that the very fact that I have air in my lungs and the ability to move is a gift from God. But lately I've been taking the time to thank God for His work in my life. Whether it's getting on my knees after a long day of work and just thanking God for the strength and energy to make it through another eight hours during this crazy retail season, or praising Him for an answer to prayer that I've been crying out to Him about. No matter what it is, I realize I don't want to forget to give God the glory due his name! I refuse to be like nine of those ten lepers who cried out to God, received their healing, and left Jesus standing there saying, "Has no one returned to give glory to God"! So in good times, in bad, when things go how I expect and when things seem like chaos, no matter the situation, I will give all glory to God....because in the end, just like He did with those ten lepers, Jesus has changed my life!
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