Be the one who turned back!

As a medical Provider in Carbon County I take particular interest in the biblical references when our Savior Jesus Christ healed infirmities and raised people from the dead. Jesus is our “Master Healer”. For example the miracle when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead just amazes me and is a wonderful example of God’s love for us!

In Luke 17 the story is told of Jesus traveling to Jerusalem when “ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off…lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. When he saw them, he said unto them, Go Shew yourselves unto the priests…. As they went, they were cleansed.”

Amazing! I love seeing the power of our Savior manifest! Leprosy is a significant infection of the skin that causes pain, fever, rigors, headache, nausea, vomiting, cough, and open sores of the skin! Today we treat this disease with strong antibiotics over the span of 7-14 days!

The more significant part of this account in Luke 17 is when “one of them, when saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and Fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks…Jesus answering said, were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? …Jesus said unto him, Arise, and go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.”

Thomas S Monson commented on this biblical story by saying “The expressed gratitude by one merited the Master’s Blessing, the ingratitude shown by the nine, his disappointment. Like the leprosy of yesteryear are the plagues of today. They linger; they debilitate; they destroy. They are to be found everywhere. Their pervasiveness knows no boundaries. We know them as selfishness, greed, indulgence, cruelty and crime…we tend to criticize, to complain, to blame, and slowly but surely, to abandon the positives and adopt the negatives of life.”

This time of year is the perfect time to try harder to be the one who turned back and not the nine that went there way without giving gratitude. May we find ways to look for the good in each other! Give each other the benefit of the doubt! May we look to help those in need and help them feel of the Love that their Savior Jesus Christ has for them! When we do this I testify that we become less worried about the negative in our lives and can easily focus on the love and blessings our Savior Jesus Christ has for us!

* Luke 17:11-19 and the talk “An attitude of Gratitude” by Thomas S Monson were quoted in my message today.