Our relationship with Christ needs to be more than spiritual hit-and-runs …

In the days of Jesus, nothing could rob you of life more than contracting leprosy. Not only would the disease rot away your physical being, it would bring an end to your social interaction with everyone, including your own family.

The last thing you would ever want to hear a priest confirm about you would be, “You have leprosy.”

But in a village on the border between Galilee and Samaria, 10 lepers would have their lives changed. Jesus was coming through town! Here’s how the horrid existence of the lepers took a radical change …

“As he entered a village there, ten men with leprosy stood at a distance, crying out, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ He looked at them and said, ‘Go show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy,” Luke 17:12-14.

Scripture gives us a hint that these men genuinely had faith that Jesus was able to heal them by recording that when Jesus gave them instructions, they immediately obeyed them. Keep in mind, Jesus simply told them to go show themselves to the priests, but He had not yet healed them, nor had He told them they would be healed. He gave a simple instruction, and they obeyed. Because of their faith displayed through their obedience, “… as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.”

Unfortunately, that’s the abrupt end to this story for all but one of the lepers. This is an incident of a “spiritual hit-and-run” — nine of the lepers got what they wanted from Jesus, then took off, not to be seen or heard from again. Only one returned to thank Jesus for changing his life …

“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.

This display of gratitude that brought about a glorifying of God was important to Jesus, as noted by the fact that He asks three questions about those who had hit Him up for a miracle, and then ran away once they received what they wanted …

“Jesus asked, ‘Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?’” Luke17:17-18.

All that Jesus did was to glorify the Father, and when our interactions with Him do not result in a gratitude that motivates our giving glory to God, we short change the full purpose of our relating to Christ. The miracle Jesus performed for these 10 lepers wasn’t only for their selfish purposes, but had the larger purpose of glorifying God. Only one of these men understood that, the other nine were content with a spiritual hit-and-run on Jesus; they had what they wanted, which was healing — not Jesus!

By Jesus questioning their behavior with three different questions, we understand that Jesus expected more of them because gratitude is God’s will for us!

“Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

It was the Roman philosopher, Cicero, who is credited for saying, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of all virtues, but the parent of all the others.” Gratitude motivates us to give glory to God, it sparks a desire to praise and worship, it moves us to serve, to follow, and to obey.

Without gratitude to Christ for what He does for us, our interactions are often nothing more than our own versions of spiritual hit-and-runs — get what we want from Jesus, then disappear!

How much more is your relationship with Jesus? Is it marked by gratitude and a primary desire to give glory to God? Or is your “relationship” to Jesus little more than a series of hit-and-runs?

Scotty