Luke 17:17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
Part of my pontificating on gratitude examined how healing often needs to occur before honest gratitude shows its worth. But apparent and obvious healing does not necessarily bring up a groundswell of thanksgiving. Why?
Here are NINE reasons why you (and me!) may be lacking in thankfulness after a healing:
- You feel you didn’t deserve the trial or wound in the first place. You were meant to live on this earth happy, healthy, wealthy and wise, not to mention well fed and loved. You deserve these things because you live and breathe.
- You suffer from blindness–you can’t even see that you’ve been healed. You may have spent a decade living hand-to-mouth but somehow you don’t even see that your bank account has been flush for a number of years now. You didn’t even realize that you genuinely laughed out loud last night after months of oppressive grieving.
- You treat your healing as a checklist item that is marked “done” and immediately push to the next problem to solve.
- You never really wanted healing in the first place. Your self-worth was built around either your self-pity or the pity and attention you garnered from others. Now that you’re healed, the spotlight might go away.
- You don’t want to acknowledge the Healer. He bugs you. You don’t even want to admit He exists, much less has anything to do with your own personal life. If you did, He might want something from you. Like gratitude.
- You’re cynical about the timeframe of the healing. Sure it’s great you’re healed, but why couldn’t it have happened a decade ago or even last week? You’ve missed opportunities or have lost much in the trial that you might never get back. Healing at this point seems pointless.
- You were never taught to express gratitude, and maybe no one ever bothered to express any to you. You look like a grown-up, but your heart never grew past toddlerhood.
- You’re too self-absorbed and have too much pride to admit that Someone outside of yourself had anything to do with your healing. You take pride on doing things “your way” and this healing just messes with that system.
- You remain disobedient to God’s command to be thankful (Col 3:15) because that is the most comfortable place to remain: in disobedience. Unthankfulness is just one more way to snub Him.
I don’t think Jesus was confused at all about what happened to the other nine that did not express gratitude when He asked the question. Instead, it was an indictment against humanity who too often rails against the One to whom they would show everlasting love and devotion “if only He would…”
The truth is that in Christ you have been healed, you are being healed, and in eternity you will be forever healed. May we confidently expose our wounds to Him, and trust Him for the work He is doing through them and because of them. And in all things (God help us), give thanks.
1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
note: see the Christian Writer’s Blog Chain for more thoughts on the theme of “Nine”
Gratefully His,
