And then there was one...

Leprosy was and still is a devastating disease, one that separates you from society. Lepers are outcasts, people fear being near them, they suffer physically and emotionally every day. Imagine losing all of your day to day relationships, even the seemingly insignificant ones like the grocery clerk or bank teller. Imagine seeing fear in the eyes of everyone who sees you, feeling the rejection of people you know and those you don't know, to be unable to touch another human being for the rest of your life. Devastating and hopeless.

In Luke 17:11-19, Jesus encounters 10 lepers along the road to Jerusalem. This story is both extraordinary and sobering. These 10 men called to Jesus from a distance to have pity on them... to see their physical condition and restore them to wholeness.

Christ simply tells them to show themselves to the priest - he is the one man who can declare them cleansed so they can return to normal life. The remarkable sentence here is this one (v. 14), "And as they went, they were cleansed."

AS THEY WENT... they heard a simple command, they simply obeyed and as they obeyed they were cleansed! Absolutely amazing isn't it? That phrase struck me for the first time although I have read this account many times before.

Yet this isn't the most remarkable part... verse 15-16:

"One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan."

ONE.... one of them came back. One of them praised God. One of them threw himself at Jesus' feet. One of them thanked Him. ONE. Wow. Sobering.

Ten men followed Jesus' directive but only ONE acknowledged the life altering change that took place. The restoration of life, relationships, wholeness. Each one of those men was given physical life back.... physical life.

But ONE. One returned to Jesus, Who asked where the other nine were. Had this one man been the only one to return with gratitude and praise on his lips? Not only was he one man but he was a Samaritan man - a man despised by the Jews for his split nationality: a Jewish Gentile, unclean to the Jews.

This Samaritan man returned with a heart full of gratitude at the physical miracle his body had experienced and Christ healed him even deeper than that...

"Then He said to him, 'Rise and go; your faith has made you well.' ” (v. 19)

The ONE: he believed, he was grateful, he fell at Jesus' feet, he had faith and it made him well. He was whole again, completely whole, not just physically but spiritually as well. Spiritual life. Extraordinary.

There is the greater miracle... faith.

Hebrews 11: 1-2, 6 tells us, "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.... And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

Do I live my faith? Do I live a life of gratitude? Do I return to the feet of Jesus in humble, wholehearted worship and thankfulness when He heals? When He provides? When He restores?

In what ways am I like the nine lepers who took the good from Christ and never thought to say thank you? Who only thought of themselves?

In what areas do I need to repent because I have not acknowledged God's grace and mercy in my life?

How can I make gratitude an active practice of my living faith in Christ? Every single day?

Lord, enable me to be like the one who returned before he saw the priest to praise You with boldness, to fall at Your feet, to thank You... in ALL things, every moment of every day.

Dryer Lint

Dryer lint- it's amazing stuff... it's never ending and it accumulates so quickly especially when I do a load of towels or blankets. Faithfully I clean the lint trap and I encourage my girls to do the same. Recently I was informed that the trap isn't the only place that lint accumulates, it accumulates in the dryer casing and in the dryer hose which over time creates a major fire hazard. The hose takes a little effort but it can be fairly easily cleaned. The dryer body is a completely different matter. Of course I haven't any idea how to get in there to clean it out, the lint is hidden, unreachable so I tend to forget about it. Putting off cleaning is pretty easy because the lint is out of sight but it still exists... so does the danger.

As I pondered dryer lint (strange as that is), I saw a correlation to sin in my life; sin is never ending and it temptations, pitfalls, residue accumulates quickly in my heart. The obvious sins I try to keep on short account with God... you know those everyday ones we know are a problem and everyone around us know are an issue- those are my lint trap sins. These sins are visible and fairly easy to find out. It can be tempting to stop there and feel that I have dealt with my sin but like lint, there are hidden sins that accumulate in the recesses of my heart. While these sins aren't so easy to identify, they are in there growing and gaining ground in my heart creating a fire hazard. One day those sins will consume me if I do not take the time to do the hard thing and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal them to me then enable me to truly repent, put off those sins and put on the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14).

God will wash us thoroughly if we will only but fall at His feet in humble repentance. I praise God for the cross of Jesus Christ and the blood that was shed for my sins. I praise God for the victory won there. If I confess my sins God is faithful and just to forgive my sins and cleanse me from ALL unrighteousness (I John 1:9) Alleluia, Amen!

My prayer is this Lord:
"Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin." Psalm 51:2

"The Deeps" - Valley of Vision

LORD JESUS~
Give me a deeper repentance,
a horror of sin,
a dread of it's approach;

Help me chastely to flee it,
and jealously to resolve that my heart shall be thine alone.

Give me a deeper trust,
that I may lose myself to find myself in thee,
the ground of my rest,
the spring of my being.

Give me a deeper knowledge of thyself
as saviour, master, lord, and king.

Give me deeper power in private prayer,
more sweetness in thy Word,
more steadfast grip on its truth.

Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action,
and let me not seek moral virtue apart from thee.

Plough deep in me, great Lord, heavenly husbandman,
that my being may be a tilled field,
the roots of grace spreading far and wide,
until thou alone art seen in me,
thy beauty golden like summer harvest,
thy fruitfulness as autumn plenty.

I have no master but thee,
no law but thy will,
no delight but thyself,
no wealth but that thou givest,
no good but that thou blessest,
no peace but that thou bestowest.

I am nothing but that thou makest me,

I have nothing but that I receive from thee,

I can be nothing but that grace adorns me.

Quarry me deep, dear Lord,
and then fill me to overflowing with living water.