“Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So, Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”
Memory Verse: “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” John 10:28
Have you ever heard the word FFF? If not, it was something we joked about back when I was in secondary school. I attended a government boarding school which boasted of children from low class, middle and wealthy backgrounds. The kids from the wealthy class obviously had things like pocket money and provisions in abundance more than the others who could only afford a few substandard things. People wanted to be friends with the rich kids for various reasons; while some just wanted to associate with them to also be visualised as a rich kid, some became friends to ensure they had someone to give them provisions when needed. We call those sorts of friends (Friend For food).
The 9 lepers can be called FFF. They had their voices tuned to the maximum volume when they needed help from Jesus. They attached themselves to Him and his instructions just so they could get their healing but once they got what was in it for them, they were off and nowhere to be found.
Many of us are just like that in life. We dedicate time to the things of God and spend so much time in His presence doing a lot just because we have a need. Soon as we are healed, we get lost in the crowd until the next time we have a need.
Jesus knows those who are genuinely His because they love Him irrespective. Only one leper came back to Jesus to give thanks, the other nine had moved on from Jesus. Those who are for Him know that there is no life without Him.
You can enjoy miracles and be saved, and we see that those nine lepers were healed but NOT saved, therefore they benefited from the abundance of God’s goodness but couldn’t be called children of God. That one leper began his journey of salvation that day because he was healed and saved.
Are you a child of God or just benefiting from his mercy?
PRAYERS:
- Father I thank you for another week just starting
- Thank you for all you do for me and for your unlimited blessings
- Forgive my iniquities Lord and help me to live a purpose driven life
- Heal me Lord and let me to totally saved and be of you
- I surrender all to you Lord withholding nothing! Help me to be of you always.
- I denounce the world Lord, I declare myself as your sheep and live like one
- Thank you for going ahead, Father, I am grateful for all!
- AMEN!
