ReTURN

How do you typically respond when someone gives you a gift? When someone does something nice for you? When someone pays for your meal when you go out to eat?

As you think about your response, let's take a look at the response of ten men healed of leprosy. As Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, ten outcast lepers called out to Him to come & help them. Jesus met them, healed them & told them to go tell the priests & show them the miracle that had taken place. They went, were healed & seemingly continued on their way.

However, ONLY ONE returned to Jesus. Only one came back to thank Jesus for what He did. Only one praised God for the miracle in his life & threw himself at the feet of Jesus in humility & gratitude. Only one returned.

So what about you? Who are you in this story? Has Jesus changed your life & you have simply gone on your way? Never to return? I think that might be the case for many of us. We get what we want from Jesus in salvation, but we never live it out. We rarely go to church, open our Bibles, or even pray. We have altogether forgotten about the miracle done in our life. We have gotten so excited over the blessing, we have forgotten WHO has blessed us.

But Jesus wants us to RETURN. He wants us to truly follow Him & be just like Him. Jesus tells us in Luke 14:27 that "anyone who does not carry his cross & follow me cannot be my disciple." The cross of self-denial. The cross of making Jesus more in our lives. The cross of obedience to Him & His word.

When the lone leper did return, Jesus asked him about the other nine. Is Jesus asking about you? Is Jesus asking where you have gone?

Come back to Him. ReTURN.

JV