Thank You Lord!

Each morning I read a chapter or portion of a chapter of the New Testament. Today's reading comes from Luke 17:11-19. Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem near the border of Samaria and Galilee. Here, ten lepers appeal to Him for help. Leprosy, as you know, is a 'type' of sin. It represents sin in the Bible. Jesus then put their faith to the test as He commanded them to go and show themselves to the priests. As they made their way to the priests they all were healed, but only one returned to Jesus to say "Thank you". Then Jesus asked the question: "Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?" What does this teach us? It teaches us that Jesus places high value on the service of praise. The grateful heart of this one did not go unnoticed by our Lord, but the lack of praise from the nine was noted by our Lord. One has to wonder whether or not our Lord is asking the same question of us. We are all in danger of failing to give Him the adoration which is ever due to Him. "Sometimes we may be restrained by the very natural feeling that our offerings of praise must be, at the best, poor and unworthy. But we have no right, for any such cause, to withhold from Him what He evidently values." [G. Campbell Morgan] Let us never be forgetful nor mastered by a modesty, which may become pride. But rather let us praise our Savior every day for our salvation and for all that He does for us. Jesus never grows weary of our praise. In fact, we'll sit around the throne in heaven singing "worthy is the Lamb" for all eternity. So Christians, let's not wait till then. Let's begin today offering our thanks to Jesus. In fact, that is your priestly duty, as you are now part of the 'royal priesthood' offering up spiritual sacrifices [I Peter 2:5, 9]. And one of the very first spiritual sacrifices you offer up is the sacrifice of praise [Heb.13:15 "Let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name." That's what this leper did. He went to the priest, but he came back as a 'priest' in the 'royal priesthood', saved and forever grateful, offering praise to Jesus Christ. Thank you Jesus for saving me. Thank you Jesus for who You are and for what you do for me everyday. I love you because you first loved me!