Faith, Forgiveness, and The Kingdom
FAITH
I always tell people I have crazy faith, because I've seen God do so many crazy things in my life. My entire life is a living testimony. The thing about faith is you only need a little, and God will work with what little you have. (Luke 17:6) This verse lets you know the magnitude of what little faith can do. The men with leprosy had faith that they were healed before God even healed them. (Luke 17:14) When they approached Jesus, pleading for pity, He told them to go see the priests. These men had leprosy, so the only time they were allowed to go see the priests is IF they thought the leprosy was gone. So when Jesus said go see the priests, they went. He didn't say, "you are healed, go see the priests", are you following me?
The bible doesn't go into detail about their faith, but I can only imagine how each of the men's faith differed. One man probably had his doubts, another may have believed only a little, and maybe some even had great faith; but they were all healed. No matter how much faith you have God is able to do it, you just have to believe. The most interesting part is, they didn't need evidence or proof of them being healed, all they needed was a word from Jesus. I don't know about you, but just a word will do! I don't need to see the end result before I move, I don't need a glimpse of what the future holds, all I need God to do is release a sound. I almost ran around this room!!! When you trust God, you go when he says go, even when you don't know what's ahead.
Once all the men had been healed only one of them went back to praise God for what he had done. (Luke 17:15-16) Him doing that gained him a further development in his faith. (Luke 17:19) Never miss out on a chance to praise God for the many miracles he has performed in you life. Don't get so caught up in the blessing that you forget where it came from. Don't forget God when you get everything you prayed for. Give 10% of your increase, sow a seed if you need to, but don't let a blessing go unpraised. Sometimes we forget to praise God for even the smallest things, because it's so common to us. Know that what is common to you may be foreign to someone else. Life itself is a blessing, so I praise God every morning because even though I get to experience another day on earth somebody didn't.
Forgiveness
We spoke a little about forgiveness in an earlier blog, but it's one of those topics that is brought up a lot in the bible. Here in Luke 17:4, Jesus expresses the depths of forgiving we must go. I always find forgiving someone to be something I do for me. Your ability to be freed from the people who hurt you depends on your willingness to forgive. I don't forgive you because I forgot, I don't forgive you because you deserve it, but I forgive you because I deserve to be freed from the chains that had me bound; because I deserve to be healed from the pain you caused in my life. I forgive because if I don't I will be held accountable. We all will be held accountable for the duties we fail to carry out as belivers. We are held to a certain standard and it may seem like a lot but it's what's expected of us as followers of Christ. (Luke 14:25-33) In Luke 14 we talked about the cost of being a disciple. It may mean loving those who hurt you, but it's the cost.
We are expected to lead others to Christ and if we do the opposite we will be held accountable. (Luke 17:1) We are expected to forgive our brothers and sisters and rebuke then when they sin or else we be held accountable. (Luke 17:3) We are expected of many more things, the list goes on. However, these aren't things you get extra credit for. It's a duty, a privilege, to serve God. (Luke 17:10) This doesn't mean our good deeds will go unseen, it just denounces spiritual pride and obligation. Do you sometimes feel like you deserve a reward for serving God? Your hard work and righteous ways will be rewarded in heaven, there's no doubt about that. So just focus on serving Him, and everything else will follow.
The Kingdom
We have to live everyday as if it is The Day of His return, because it will come like a thief in the night. Jesus compared this day to the days of Noah when the flood came & the days of Lot when Sodom was burned to the ground. (Luke 17:26-29) We won't be able to right our wrongs or go back for anything. (Luke 17:31-32) That's why it's critical that we carry out our duties as followers of Christ. We will be going about our daily life when the time comes. (Luke 17:27) What does your daily life look like? Will it earn you a spot in heaven? What will you be doing on the day of His return, will you be ready?