Thankfulness verses Entitlement

An important lesson in life, including your healing is to be thankful to the Lord for it. And it really must be important that out of all healings that took place through the hands of Jesus that the following account of the 10 lepers who were healed was recorded in the New Testament for us to learn from today.

All too often, and more so today, people are bound by the sin of entitlement and do not stop for a moment to say thank you. Obviously, giving thanks is important to God or He wouldn’t have told the Holy Spirit to have the men of God write it down in the scrolls for us to learn from.

“Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. 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 17:11-19.

Let’s think about what it was like for these 10 lepers. They were full of a non-curable disease that slowly ate them to death. They were unsightly, full of puss and pain, rejected and feared. They were unable to work for a living, had to steal or scrounge for something to eat, or depend upon the mercy of others for their daily bread. When others came near them, they were to call out about themselves, “Unclean! I’m unclean!” This was to protect the one passing by to stay away so they would not catch this contagious disease. To put it plainly, life was miserable for them.

Then Jesus, the great healer walks by, they cry out for mercy and He heals all 10 of them. That’s the love of Jesus, compassion in action. Now, one would think that as these 10 lepers saw themselves healed that they would be so grateful to the one that healed them, but they were not. At least not enough to turn and say thank you for healing me. They just all went their own way, but one.

You may think I am being petty, but I guess God doesn’t think the quality of thankfulness is a little thing. We shouldn’t think of it that way either. This testimony shows the heart of most people. It exposes the sin of entitlement. That selfish attitude that others owe you something, and you have no responsibility. The world revolves around me, myself, and I.

You say, “Yes, but this is the gift of healing.” Yes, healing is a gift, and it is free to us that will believe, but free does not mean cheap. Healing changes someone’s life. Think of these 10 lepers and how their lives changed, and instantly. 

Just as Jesus questioned the ungratefulness of the 9 lepers that were healed, He is questioning us today. Are we truly grateful for all that the Lord has done for us, including healing? Or are we self-centered and forgot that the World revolves around Jesus, the Savior and we are to be about our heavenly Father’s business and win people to Him?

Are we too caught up in what we want out of life, the way we look, and what others think of us, that we bear this sin of entitlement, even towards God? Thankfulness is not a little thing, it’s an important quality that helps us to be healthy in spirit, soul, and in body.

Becky Dvorak is a prophetic healing evangelist and the Destiny Image author of DARE to Believe, Greater Than Magic and The Healing Creed. Visit her at authorbeckydvorak.com.