Daily Inspiration

Friends, although I wrote yesterday’s message, I couldn’t post it. I’m including a double entry today; Forgive the length of today’s double inspiration.

Jesus said to the Apostles: “Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’? Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished’? Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded? So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’” —Luke 17:7-10

I live in chronic pain, but God places the gift of sacrificial suffering within my affliction. I have learned to look forward to each day because I know my offering will do some good, somewhere. I don’t understand how it works; I just know it does. But there is one pain that is too hard to bear.

After my talks, the audience inevitably applauds, and those claps cause more pain than anything else I suffer. I am just God’s servant. The story is His, and I am only the messenger. Upon delivering the message, know it is not me, but God, Who gave the words. All praise goes to my Master, for I am but an unprofitable servant, having done only what I was obliged to do.

“As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.” – Luke 17:11-19

In that time, lepers were separated from society, unable to worship in the temple. Jesus uses their physical healing to illustrate the reason for His coming. Like those lepers, the soul of a sinner is covered in disease and blemish. This blemish is like a callus on the soul, and while the Father never releases His grip, the callus creates a separation between His hand and the soul. Jesus came to free us from that malady. He came to cleanse away the sin that covered the soul, so that the souls of His children could experience the closeness of God and be freed of the awful separation from Him.

Watch today’s saint of the day video