Devotion for 18 September

A brief prayer is offered that you can add to your daily prayers this week. The scripture is from our Sunday Service Bulletin for today.  Some of the content of the devotion comes from the LSB notes on pp 1752.

Gospel Reading: Luke 17:11-19 (English Standard Version)

11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

Devotion: The Unworthy Give Thanks

Our sermon today provided some history on leprosy in the bible and some analogies to sin were offered up. God’s restorative power to forgive our sins is a wonderfully great comparison to healing people with a presumptively fatal disease. For our devotion today, I’d like to point out the last phrase in our text: “your faith has made you well”. What is being said is that Jesus had the power to restore and the Samaritan’s faith made him obedient which resulted in his healing. Jesus is commending this man’s faith and his thankfulness. Friends, the message is that the nine focused on the healing and the Samaritan focused on the healer. Daily, God’s mercy extends to the unworthy including you and me. Let us ever be thankful for such an amazing and generous God.

We pray: Lord we thank You for Your forgiveness. Amen