10 to 1 Odds

Giving further thought to the account of the ten lepers, I want to switch my focus from the one who returned, to the nine who didn’t. Why didn’t they? Were they not as grateful as the one? I do not believe that this was the case at all. All of the men were in the same desperate boat of rejection and deteriorating health. All received the same physically healing. I think what occurred is that nine of the men saw their physical condition as the primary need, whereas the man who returned, although, physical healing was of significant importance, he discovered it was not his greatest need. The nine settled for far less than what they could have received. I can’t help but wonder how often I do that in my own life.

Take forgiveness for example. Many of us ask for and need forgiveness. Yet, how often do we find ourselves seeking forgiveness for the same thing? In this case, I think, that perhaps I’m looking for forgiveness for ‘forgiveness sake’ alone, rather than seeing the greater opportunity for release and freedom from bondages. Does, Jesus forgive when we come to Him and ask for it? Certainly, if we come as it tells us in 1 John 1:9. However, if we’re not careful we can find ourselves in the same position as the nine lepers. We receive the forgiveness and celebrate that, but in the receiving of that we don’t return to Jesus praising God and falling at His feet. The nine lepers where really healed. We can be really forgiven, but we must understand that it is less than half of the story. The Lepers here healed unto something – the potential was there for ‘wellness’ to be experienced. The nine had the same opportunity as the one. Jesus wants us to realize ‘wellness’ in the receiving of our forgiveness. We are not just temporary forgiven so we can feel better, we are forgive so that we might come back to Him, fall at His feet and be changed

So our struggle is often that perceived need may not be the same as our real need. The implication is that perhaps we are settling too often for the alleviation of the perceived need. Like the nine Lepers, illness of one sort or another would return – it was temporal as life itself. Whereas the one received eternal ‘wellness’, that would not disappear, even if illness was to return. We need to recognized that salvation is for more than just our eternal future – it is also our ‘now’ life. Jesus wants us to be ‘well’ today.

Anyway, I was just thinking,

Neil