Where are the nine?

And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.  – Luke 17.17-19

This is really a sad account of Jesus’ ministry. One day ten lepers came to Jesus. In those days lepers were the outcasts of society and a scourge to be avoided. These folks came to Jesus to ask Him to heal them. Jesus healed all ten of this horrible and eventually deadly disease.

A little later one lone man walked up to thank Jesus for what He had done.

One out of ten. What an ungrateful lot. How could ten people be cured of this awful plague and one, ONE, come back to thank Him?

But one thing is clear it is that thankfulness is a trait that a lot of people have trouble with. It is so easy to take God and His work for granted.

I think another sign of a lack of thankfulness is worry and anxiety and being full of cares. Why would I think that?

Think of Philippians 4 where Paul writes ‘be careful (full of cares) about nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with – thanksgiving – let your request be made known to God and the peace of God, that passes all understand will keep your  hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.’

Part of not worrying is being thankful for what God has already done for us and given us. When we worry we show God that we are not grateful for what He has already done because we don’t think He can take care of the situation.

Being thankful is more than just saying ‘thank you.’ It is acting thankful by trusting God to take care of what comes next. Let’s avoid being one of the nine and instead be like the  one.