The power of response
Luke 17:11–17 (The Message)
It happened that as He made His way toward Jerusalem, He crossed over the border between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten men, all lepers, met Him. They kept their distance but raised their voices, calling out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" Taking a good look at them, He said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." They went, and while still on their way, became clean. One of them, when he realized that he was healed, turned around and came back, shouting his gratitude, glorifying God. He kneeled at Jesus' feet, so grateful. He couldn't thank Him enough - and he was a Samaritan. Jesus said, "Were not ten healed? Where are the nine? Can none be found to come back and give glory to God except this outsider?" Then He said to him, "Get up. On your way. Your faith has healed and saved you."
In this account we can learn some great lessons concerning the power of response in our lives and hopefully be challenged concerning developing our personal responsibility or "ability to respond".
In this passage we see 3 responses, and all of them are amazing:
First, Jesus' response to the need of these 10 men: leprosy had taken away their lives and shut their worlds down both physically and socially. Jesus steps in and miraculously gives them their lives back - Jesus was responsive to their cry for help. The next response we see is the response of the one who returned; he was a Samaritan, which meant, out of the 10 that were healed, he would have been considered the least likely one to come back to say thanks. You can hear the gratefulness and passion in his responsive words of thanks. But it's the final one which really caught my attention and that was the lack of response from the nine who had all received miracles that day from Jesus as well as the Samaritan.
Think about the figures for a minute. Only 10% of the miracle responded in a way fitting with what had happened. Only one in ten responded appropriately for what had happened to them (basically, given their lives back). Were they evil men? I don't think so. I think they just swiftly got back into their previously normal lives that their illness had separated them from, and forgot to respond correctly by coming back to Jesus and saying thanks. They understood what it was to respond when in need (they called out to Him, "Master have mercy on us!") but they just forgot to respond correctly when God answered their cry. Champion, always make sure you say thanks!
Let's make sure that we are responsive to God when we should be. Also, in our other relationships, and in life itself, being responsive will always bring increase into your world and make things that you have even more fruitful. My observation and experience has been that both God and life give 'stuff' to responsive people. Let's make sure that today we are responding correctly to the people and the situations that we should be.
Bless you and have a great (responsive) day,
Andy
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