The Upper Room Daily Devotional Nashville, Tennessee, United States “Living Thanks” for Friday, 16 January 2015 - Scripture: Luke 17:11-19

The Upper Room Daily Devotional Nashville, Tennessee, United States “Living Thanks” for Friday, 16 January 2015 - Scripture: Luke 17: Ten Men with Leprosy
11 On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus went along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men with leprosy[a] came toward him. They stood at a distance 13 and shouted, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
14 Jesus looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”[b]
On their way they were healed. 15 When one of them discovered that he was healed, he came back, shouting praises to God. 16 He bowed down at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. The man was from the country of Samaria.
17 Jesus asked, “Weren’t ten men healed? Where are the other nine? 18 Why was this foreigner the only one who came back to thank God?” 19 Then Jesus told the man, “You may get up and go. Your faith has made you well.”[Footnotes:
17.12 leprosy: See the note at 4.27.
17.14 show yourselves to the priests: See the note at 5.14.]
One of [the lepers], when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.[Luke 17:15 (NIV)]
Whenever I hear the story of the 10 lepers, I am amazed that only one came back to thank Jesus. After all, Jesus had given them their lives back. They had been encumbered by a horrible skin disease, which made them outcasts. Jesus’ response allowed them to be reunited with their families and to be part of their community again. Jesus gave them life. What a gift! But only one returned to say thank you.
I can easily point a finger at the lepers who didn’t return; I can ask, “How could they be so ungrateful?” Yet, reflecting on my own life, I know I must appear as the nine, so intent on the false importance of my busyness that I forget to give thanks to God. I too have been delivered from a horrible disease — sin — that would have left me an outcast just like those lepers. I would have been doomed to die alone, were it not for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Salvation is worthy of continuous thanks and gratitude, but God goes further and heaps blessing upon blessing on us. I have resolved to give thanks, not only in my prayers of gratitude but also in the way I live. Living with thankful spirits helps us to better witness to what God has done for us.
The Author: Gina Bylsma (California, USA)
Thought for the Day: We show our thanks to God by the way we live.
Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for delivering us and for giving us life. Help us to live each day with thankful hearts and grateful spirits so that we may witness to your amazing grace. Amen.
Prayer focus: Those who suffer incurable illnesses
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