Be Like the One, Not the Nine

While Jesus lived on the Earth, He always tried to help people. His main purpose was to teach people how to get to heaven. But in order to do that, He sometimes helped them physically. Very often, He healed their diseases. This caused them to realize that He was Who He claimed to be—the Son of God.

In Luke 17:11-20, the story is told of how Jesus entered into a small village, and there found ten men who had leprosy. Leprosy is a very bad skin disease. People who had leprosy were called "lepers." Healthy people did not want to be around lepers; they were afraid they would get leprosy, too.

The ten lepers begged Jesus to help them, and He did. The Bible says that Jesus healed them. Can you imagine how happy they must have been? This meant they now could be around other people. They could live with their families again. They could shop in the markets. They could worship God with their friends. What joy they must have felt in their hearts!

If you had been one of those lepers, what would you have done after being healed by Jesus? Would you have returned to Jesus to say, "Thank you, Lord, for healing me"? Surely, most people would want to thank someone who had healed them of a terrible disease. But out of ten lepers, only one of them took the time and effort to go back to Jesus to say "thank you." Only one—how sad!

This Bible story reminds us of two very important lessons. First, we should be grateful to God for all that He has done for us. God has given us a lovely home here on the Earth; He has given us the many blessings we enjoy (like our families and friends). He has also given us Jesus to save us from our sins. Without Jesus, we could not go to heaven—how thankful we should be!

Second, we should be thankful to anyone who helps us. It is never right to be ungrateful.God wants us to thank others when they do nice things for us. Remember the one leper who returned to say "thank you." Try to be like him, and not like his nine friends.

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