AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Now on His way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As He was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met Him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

When He saw them, He said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him—and he was a Samaritan.

Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then He said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

Luke 17:11-19

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Ask yourself this: How many times does the Lord do something that is praiseworthy?

I would wager to say that there is not a single second that goes by in any single day where the Lord has not done something worthy of our admiration and commendation. He is at work everywhere within His creation making a difference in the lives of everyone.

Now take this truth, that the Lord is doing something worthy of adoration every single second of every day, and then consider there isn’t a day that passes where he isn’t like this. Our Lord is indeed always working things out for the good of those who love him, 24/7, 365 days a year, year after year after year after year. He has been doing it for the ages since He brought mankind into being and He will do so until that day of glory when Jesus returns to judge the world and everyone within it.

Indeed, we serve a Lord who deserves our perpetual, unceasing praise. And yet, too often, people forget to take the time to say, “Thank You” for what He has done for them.

You see, our Lord is so good to us all the time that we take His goodness for granted. It’s a flaw in our humanity but it’s one that is correctable, a correctable as any other sin we might suffer from. The correction point is nothing more than an attitude adjustment, an adjustment from an attitude of indifference to one of gratitude.

That’s right, we need to commit ourselves to an attitude of gratitude to the Lord and keep it in place in step with the amount time He is with us and for us, which as we have covered is always.

It’s this matter of having an attitude of gratitude that is central to our scripture passage as we continue to look at the 17th chapter of Luke. Here we find Jesus coming upon ten lepers in dire need of healing. Look again at this account here:

Now on His way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As He was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met Him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

When He saw them, He said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him—and he was a Samaritan.

Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then He said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”  Luke 17:11-19

Here we find Jesus continuing His journey toward Jerusalem and the fateful last week of His earthly life. The scriptures tell us He was traveling along the border between Samaria and Galilee when He entered a village and encountered ten men who were stricken with leprosy. Anyone with this condition was considered unclean and so they stood away from Jesus at a distance and called to Him with loud voices:

“Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

Their words revealed three key things about how they viewed Jesus:

1. He was their Master which meant they saw themselves as completely subservient to Him.

2. They knew He could change their condition, believing He possessed the power to heal them.

3. They hoped that Jesus was compassionate and would have pity on them in their diseased state.

Well, as we have seen in the past, Jesus honored those who showed faith and trust in Him. This would be no different for after the men had called out to their Master, Jesus replied:

“Go, show yourselves to the priests.”

And as they went, they were cleansed. The leprosy that had crippled them, pushing them to society’s fringes, was gone. They were made new by the One who always makes all things new.

Now you would have thought such an amazing act would have caused all the men to come back to Jesus with an attitude of gratitude. But that’s not what happened, did it?

No, only one man returned and he wasn’t even a Jew but rather a Samaritan, a man who would have been despised by the Jews even if he hadn’t had leprosy. Coming to Jesus and throwing himself at His feet, this man was the only man who would come back to Jesus and say, “Thank You”. The scene asked Jesus to simply ask:

“Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”

Indeed, it was a sad testament to the way people approach God and the goodness He pours out on them. It was true back in the days of Jesus and sadly, it’s still true today.

Friends, how could we ever let this happen? How could we ever go through any day without completely looking to the Lord with absolute thanksgiving?

The good news is that we won’t if we go into every day with an attitude of gratitude. And we can start by looking at every micro aspect of our lives as a chance to give praise.

You wake up. Give thanks.

You’re breathing and your heart beats. Give thanks.

You stand up on two legs and feet. Give thanks.

You can walk. Give thanks.

You can use your hands to do things. Give thanks.

And so on and so on and so on. Never take anything for granted. Appreciate all the little things and watch you days turn into exercises in rejoicing.

Not just some days. Every day.

For the Lord is good, all the time, and so there is no time when He is not worthy of our praise.

Let’s commit ourselves to give it to Him with all our heart and mind and soul and strength, now and forever more.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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