Grateful Faith – 2019.08.16

Grateful Faith – 2019.08.16

Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.
Luke 17, 15

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus passed through a village in Samaria. The Samaritans and the Jews did not like each other at all, and the Jews never actually passed through Samaria. There were 10 lepers living in this village. Leprosy is a terrible disease, a death sentence, a disease that slowly but surely eats you up, you rot on your living body. They had to live in isolation so that they would not infect anyone. So they stood from afar and shouted: Jesus, Master, have mercy on us! – It was also merciful. Jesus did not ignore them, nor did He put them off for a beautiful eternity, nor did He give good advice that always sounded so spiritual. He simply said: “Go, show yourselves to the priests! – It was already prescribed in the Old Testament: If anyone was to be healed, he had to have it confirmed by the priests. But actually no one had ever gotten well. God probably thought of Jesus even then, when He had this destiny included in the books of the Old Testament. So while the ten men went to the priests – they were obedient, it didn’t cost anything – they became healthy and clean on the way. One of them stopped, looked down at himself and was totally surprised: All symptoms disappeared, the fingers and ears back, no more stains, everything gone! And he ran back to Jesus and praised God with a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him. He knew that Jesus had accomplished the impossible, He is worth worshipping! Jesus asked about the other nine who did not come to thank Him. But to this man He said: “Get up and go! Your faith has helped you.
The other nine may have believed in chance, spontaneous healing, or special energetic healing powers, perhaps thanking the doctor, the pills, the priest, or believing that their willpower had done this. They did not want to accept the connection with Jesus. I am afraid that many Christians today have a similar situation: they cannot believe that they cannot see the answer to prayer in connection with Jesus. “Perhaps” shapes their life and faith.
Faith helps very concretely in very concrete situations. Such pious phrases do not comfort. Here we can see faith that shows itself in gratitude. I think faith without gratitude is impossible, or perhaps only a very small small faith …..
It is actually impossible to believe in Jesus and to complain all day long or to roll around in problems. Gratitude should shape our lives! How often has God already helped!

Yes Jesus, I want to be grateful. Not everything is in the greatest order, but I know that You have already done so much and put it in order. That is why I want to be grateful and believe that You can do everything else. You are so good to me, thank You!!!!!


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