Do I really want Jesus or just His help?

Do you really want Jesus or just his help?

There’s a story found in the Gospel of Luke 17:11-19 that gives an insight in to what Jesus must’ve dealt with on a regular basis. As the story goes, Jesus is walking along and from the side of the road a group of lepers were calling out to him begging: “Master heal us!” (Society demanded at the time that lepers were to be kept separated from the rest of the community due to their contagious and deadly disease.)

Jesus has compassion on the ten lepers and heals them. He sends them on their way to the temple to be officially recognized as cleansed (an Old Testament requirement that a priest would authorize their cleansing/return to society).

Here’s where it gets interesting: “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”” (Luke 17:15-19).

Jesus asks this weird question: “Weren’t there TEN lepers I healed? Where are the other NINE?” He points out that one guy who does return wasn’t even Jewish, but a Samaritan. 

Did Jesus get mad? – NO

Did Jesus take back the healing of the other nine men? – NO

Did Jesus stop healing others in the future? – NO

So why draw attention to this one incident? – Because it exposes a common trait within EACH OF US.

Unfortunately, we are often more like the nine men that don’t come back. You see, we all want a miracle. We all want to be cleansed. However, we go to the Master to ask for help, not out of surrender or devotion, but usually out of greed or selfishness. We want the healing but not the healer. We want the restoration but not the restorer. We want to “fly” but we don’t truly care about the long term relationship with the pilot. How often do we pray asking for more saving, but not more of the Savior?

We need to place our hope and trust in Christ, not in the life we hope to get from Him. Start today by asking for more of Jesus in your life, not more of the things you want Him to do for you.