In Luke chapter 17 Jesus healed ten men that were lepers.
Then in verses 14-18 Jesus said, “’Go show yourselves to the
priests’…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?’”
Jesus could ask the same question
today. “Where are the others?”
At 9:30 AM for Sunday morning Bible study there are a number who choose
not to attend. Are they sleeping
late or too lazy to come? And what
about Sunday evening worship when there is less than half in attendance than
that morning? Did they have
something else “better” to do? On
Sunday evening Jesus is probably asking, “Where are the others?”
On Wednesday evening those who return are small in number.
“Where are the others?” Are
they home watching television or resting after their day’s work?
What about gospel meetings? The
same question could be asked: “Where are the others?”
Were we not all cleansed by Jesus’ blood, just as He cleansed all ten
lepers? Is there not something
wrong with one’s heart who does not have time for Jesus.
Shouldn’t we be grateful to Jesus for what He did for us?
Jesus says if we love others more than Him we are not worthy of Him
(Matthew 10:37). If we are not
worthy of Him, we will be eternally lost.
To be pleasing to Jesus so we can go to Heaven when this short life is
over, we must “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness”
(Matthew 6:33). Nothing is as
important as pleasing God so we can go to Heaven.