As we continue the journey at the feet of Jesus, I want to say that I am so glad you are joining me and I am really getting some different perspectives and I hope you are, too.

On the way to Jerusalem, he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.

Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” Luke 17:11-19 ESV

I hope you caught in the middle of the story, the one man that came back and fell on his face at the feet of Jesus.

This is such a fantastic story. If you are a skimmer, go back and read it. It speaks volumes of Jesus’ character!

I would like to point out several things before we move on to the heart of the issue.

                  1. Anyone with leprosy, according to the law, had to remain at a distance from the town. They were outcasts. Reduced to living on the roadways.

The heart in this story really begins here. Then when one of them saw that he was healed, he turned back.

Why didn’t the others turn back? That is what Jesus wanted to know.

Where there, not nine others? Yet this foreigner, the one who was rejected in many ways, turned back.

What does it mean that he turned back? In noticing that he was healed. It changed him. He not only looked at Christ as a teacher or master, He looked at Him as Lord.

How do we know this? In Jesus’ reply to this man, He said, your faith has made you well.

What was the difference between this man and the nine others? His faith.

Last week we looked at a story of a father whose faith moved him from fear to the hope that only comes from Christ.

This week we see a man whose faith leads him to gratitude and completeness. Notice he fell on his face and thanked the Lord.

I know I have thanked the Lord many times for things He has done for me or through me both big and small, but I don’t know when I have been so overwhelmed with gratitude that I have fallen to my face.

That breaks my heart. Christ did the same thing for me that He did for this foreigner. He healed my heart. My heart that was so full of disease and leprosy. I should have been left on the side of the road begging for mercy. But God knew my condition and in my seeking healing and forgiveness, He showed me the grace and mercy of complete healing.

Yet, I am afraid too many times, I may have been one of the other nine, who ran away to make sure I was really healed. 

I want to be like this man. I want to have this kind of fall on your face gratitude. I want to run to the feet of Jesus while telling the world, He has healed me! He has made me whole! 

I want to point out that the other nine were only physically healed. Jesus said to this man, however, “Rise and go on your way. Your faith has made you well.”

He didn’t tell the man to go to the priest for He had become this man’s High Priest (Hebrews 8:1) and Christ made Him well.

Now this man was able, with a loud voice, to praise the name of Jesus.

I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. Psalm 69:30 KJV

Praise and gratitude do two things for sure.

          It magnifies the name of Jesus. What a better way to magnify to the world that we are made complete than to praise His Great Name.

          It gives us the opportunity to find the joy, we so often seek, in a situation that is less than ideal.

Simply put – At the feet of Jesus, we bring faith and gratitude, we receive joy and the spiritual blessings that He alone offers us there.

Let us praise and rejoice the Lord in the comments, tell us one thing that you can be thankful for and take the opportunity to lift-up that gratitude to the Lord today!

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