Sometimes we take our encounters with Jesus for granted.  

These ten men encountered Jesus.  

They found themselves healed as they followed Jesus’ direction and went to show themselves to the priests. 

But only one returned to thank Jesus.  

How many times do we encounter Jesus in our day to day life and keep on our merry way, without pausing to say thank you.  

Many times I believe we experience God’s hand in our lives and we don’t even notice; but worse than that is when we absolutely see God’s hand in our lives and don’t take the time to glorify Him and the work He is doing in us.  

The one man returned and thanked Jesus.  

Jesus was astounded that only one returned – and this one was a foreigner.  

I believe that we in the Church have become complacent with an air of entitlement; the thought abounds that Jesus will do it because we are His, without any understanding that this is a relationship we are working with not a piggy bank of blessings to be emptied without acknowledgement. 

It is time to pray for our eyes to be opened to the hand of God in our daily lives – and a time to pray for our hearts to be softened and our gratitude heightened, that we would take the time to stop, thank and worship the Lord as He works in our lives.

What do you need to stop and thank the Lord for today? Make a list.

This verse is all about our relationship with money. 

Mammon refers to money.  

You can’t love/serve money and serve your God at the same time.

Money is a requirement for life.  

We need money to function, to support ourselves and to bless others.  

There is nothing wrong with having money and using money.  

But we must be mindful that we don’t allow money to use us. 

How we use our money and relate to our money is at the heart of the question. 

Money is one of those areas that can lend itself to greed and idolatry. 

We are not to worship anything or anyone other than God.  

He demands our loyalty. 

The Bible is very clear, you cannot serve two masters.  

Today we need to look at our relationship with money and our relationship with God and decide who we will serve.

Are you trying to serve two masters?

This son asked for his inheritance early, left home, squandered all he had and finally came to a place where he realized even his father’s servants were treated better than the situation he found himself in.  He determined he would return home, apologize to his father and hope that his father would take him on as a servant.  

What he didn’t understand was the love of his father for him.  

This father pined for his son.  

We are told, “but when he was still a great way off, his father saw him.”  

That means the father had been watching for him.  

The father had “compassion”; when he saw the son’s condition he didn’t condemn and judge, he felt compassion for him.  

Then the father “ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.”  

This was a culture in which it would have been considered very undignified for the father to hitch up his robe and run.  

And yet, the father did just that.  

He ran to his son and then loved on him.  

The father accepted the son’s apology but not his solution to the situation.  

The father took him back as a full son and celebrated his return. This father is a mirror of our heavenly father.  

He waits for our return, watches for us from afar off, has compassion on us in the situations we find ourselves in, runs toward us, loves on us, presents much more positive solutions to our issues, and celebrates our return. 

The Father is waiting for us even now to return to Him.  

He is watching for us and has the party already planned.

How does the story of the father and the son make you feel?  Have you ever felt like this son coming back to the father?  What was your experience like?