"Being Made Whole"

"And He said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole." (Luke 17:19) Now that's what I'm talking about! In order to be whole, don't you think you might need to know the truth? Who's to say that this stranger knew the truth? Well for one, Jesus did, as He told him, "thy faith hath made thee whole". I mean really; how can you have faith without knowing what to have faith in? "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." (Romans 8:17) But you might wonder, from where did this stranger hear? Well, my first clue that he heard something, is the fact that he, along with the other nine, were standing at the side of the road (afar off) and pleading, "Master, have mercy on us". Someone had to of told them that Jesus had the ability to cleanse them of their disease; yet, only one of them really understood who Jesus was, and just how much He could heal. Do I think this man was delivered from sin? You bet I do! Why? Because he recognized Jesus, and in doing so, believing that Jesus had made him whole, he had to have also believed who Jesus was; and in believing who Jesus was, he had received the gift of salvation within his heart. You might be saying, 'Hey Rich, you sure are reading a lot into this story.' You might be right; but the first thing I would ask you to think about, is what makes us whole? Jesus told this man, that his faith had made him whole; so then, what was it that made him whole? Can you answer that question without making the healing the doing of the man? Well, can you? I am thinking that we can not be made whole, unless we are sold out for Jesus Christ; and when I say 'sold out', I mean that we are convinced to our very core, that it is He who has redeemed us; and when I say 'He who has redeemed us', I mean that there is nothing that we can do! You see, those other nine that were healed, they continued on toward the Temple, to show themselves to the priests; which was most likely to carry out the ritual of the Mosaic Law; which stated that, to be clean, you must be declared clean by the priests. However the one who turned back to Jesus, he received his cleansing as soon as he was clean; meaning, as soon as he realized that he had been healed, he gave glory to the One who made him whole. Knowing in his heart that it was Jesus who made him the way he was; knowing full well, that it was nothing but mercy, which is what they pleaded for! Besides, as I see it, according to Jesus' own words, in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting Life." And, as I couple that with the word 'whole' which Jesus used, the word is 'sozo', which means safe, delivered; to save, deliver, make whole; preserve safe from danger, loss or destruction. And then, couple that with the next verse in the John 3:17, "For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved." And when I say 'that there is nothing we can do', I mean, that we are stuck in the fire, in a deep, deep hole, and there is no way we can get ourselves out; it is only Jesus who can pull us out; which only requires our believing in Him!!! "Master, have mercy on me!"