Nursery Workers and Uncertain Nationalities

Suggested Reading: Luke 17:11-19

Several years ago, I got the chance to interview candidates for a nursery worker position for our church. We only had a couple interviews, but one of the young ladies who applied stood out from the rest. Not only did she have more prior experience than the others but she dressed more professionally, had a more personable demeanor, and simply impressed me more. That young lady ended up getting the job and has since become a well-loved friend of the family. Primarily because, initially, she simply stood out.

In Luke 17, Jesus has an encounter with ten lepers, all of whom he healed, but only one of which came back to thank him. These lepers all lived in an area along the border between Samaria and Galilee and, all being outcasts from both societies, they probably had a good mix of both Jews and Samaritans. But the only thing we know about any of these men, other than that they all had leprosy, is found in two verses. 'One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan' (Luke 17:15-16, NLT).

Did you catch that? We have what might be a mixed group of men, both Jewish and Samaritan. Might. But we don't know. The only thing we know for sure about this group, aside from the leprosy, is that this man was a Samaritan. Why? Because being grateful and demonstrating his gratitude made him stand out enough for that detail to be recorded.

We live in a dark, fallen, ungrateful world. And when we demonstrate gratitude -- real gratitude --  it stands out. People are surprised by genuine gratitude when they encounter it in a society filled with attitudes of entitlement and give-me-give-me mindsets. Demonstrating genuine gratitude sets you apart and causes people to take notice of you. And, when we are trying to win the world for Jesus, standing out because of our gratitude is not a bad place to start.

Getting Ready to Swing

Suggested Reading: Matthew 14:21-21

Something I used to do on occasion that I really haven't had much time for recently is go to a batting cage. As much as I enjoy baseball, most of the time I have to settle for listening to games while I am attempting to accomplish something else rather than actually getting to play. But the thing about a batting cage is, when you put your money or token or code into the machine, you better be ready to swing the bat. If you ask for the ball, you get the ball. You don't have a lot of time to stretch and take practice swings. Once you give the machine your money, you had better be ready to start swinging. You had better be ready to get what you're asking for.

In Matthew 14, we find the familiar story of Jesus feeding 5,000 men plus their families with just five loaves of bread a couple fish. A detail that often gets overlooked is found in verse 19. The disciples report that they only have a small amount of food. Jesus tells them to bring the food to him and then "He commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass" (HCSB). At that point, I'm sure the disciples must have thought that he was crazy. All he had was a few loaves and fishes and he commanded five thousand men with their families to sit down and get ready to eat! What in the world was Jesus doing? Jesus was getting ready to swing before he put his money in the batting cage.

Jesus knew what he was going to do. He knew the miracle he was asking for and which would surely come, and he prepared for it. He acted as if he already had the food on hand and was simply distributing it. Many times throughout scripture we see this same M.O.. Ten lepers came to Jesus to be healed and he instructed them to go show themselves to the priests (who could verify their healing) but they weren't healed until they actually headed on their way to the priests (Luke 17:11-19). Elijah asked a woman who had just enough to feed herself and her son to first make a meal for him and that God would provide for her, but it wasn't until she actually made Elijah's meal that she could watch God keep her containers from emptying out. (1 Kings 17:8-16)

Quite often we ask God to provide, we ask God to do big things in our lives, but then we go on living as if nothing has changed. Instead, when we ask God to provide, to meet a need, to do something big in our lives, we should demonstrate the faith to live like God has already provided, we should prepare to receive what God is going to send our way. If we are praying that God will send us someone to share our lives with, we should be preparing ourselves to be the most stable, mature and godly persons possible so we are ready for their appearance. If we are asking God to send young families to our churches, we should prepare our facilities and our classes for them so that we are ready to welcome them and send the right messages when they come. If we are praying that God will bless us financially, we should be making sure that our financial house is in order so that we are ready to handle that blessing well.

Part of having faith is preparing to receive the things that we are praying for. If we don't, it's like trying to stretch after putting your money in the batting cage--we may miss it entirely or, worse, get hit in the head.