I have to admit that 99.9% of Bible passages make me happy.  No, thrilled.  They literally breathe new life  into me.

But there is a stark exception:  Luke 17:11-19

Jesus healed ten lepers.

Leprosy is like no other disease.  It was so bad that those stricken by it were forced to dwell outside  of the city, on the outskirts of town, and had to depend on the merciful, pity-filled alms of others just to survive.

I won’t go into the medical specifics of that disease because, well, frankly, I just ate and don’t want to, um, exhume my dinner but trust me, it was a gross, hideous disease, and those who suffered from it had perhaps the worst  ”quality of life” except for death itself… and I’m not sure even THAT was a step down, I think many lepers would deem death itself as a step up, as an improvement, and one of the few types of people who probably greeted “the Grim Reaper” with a hug and kiss.

Now imagine for a minute that you were born with no arms, no legs, no eyes, and no ears.  And one day a doctor discovered a cure and freely gave it to you and, bam, you suddenly had all of your limbs and eyes and ears and were as good as new, what would you say to that doctor, how would you react?

Well, in Luke 17:11-19 the Bible tells us that Jesus came across ten lepers and healed them.

Good as new!

After living their entire life – which was really no life at all, no quality of life whatsoever – in such a horrific condition, you and I would think, would just assume that those ten lepers couldn’t thank Jesus enough  for healing them and totally transforming their lives, right?

Yeah, but we’d be wrong.  Can you believe that just ONE of those lepers took the time to THANK Jesus?

Man, that is so GALLING!  It’s vexing even just thinking  about those other nine lepers.  Infuriating, really, that anyone ‭ could be THAT ungrateful!  Grrrrr.

But no sooner did that thought hit me a few minutes ago that a second, quite different thought immediately followed:

How often do I  thank the Lord for my spiritual salvation that permitted and produced the greatest transformation of all, one of literally infinite, eternal proportions?

How often do YOU?

Color me embarrassed.  Color me convicted.  Because even though I do thank Him for that every day or two, it’s not nearly, nearly, nearly, nearly, nearly, nearly enough.  You better believe that if a human doctor cured me of leprosy or cancer or any other life-altering disease, I’d be showing up at his or her office at least three times a day for the first month or two and thereafter would do so via email for the rest of my life.

How much more, then, does God, the great Healer and Miracle-doer, deserve our constant gratitude for curing us of an eternal disease?

Let’s commit and strive to be like that one leper, not  the nine.

How fitting that these two thoughts hit me on Thanksgiving Eve.

Happy Thanksgiving indeed!

But every  day should be Thanksgiving for those of us who’ve been healed by the Lord every bit as tangibly and infinitely more consequentially than those lepers.

May it be so.
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