I have a friend who has been financially blessed by God as few others whom I know. Unlike so many others, he is fully cognizant that his fortune was indeed a blessing from God. Consequently, he is very grateful which is demonstrated by his generous giving and his dedication of much of his personal time to furthering God’s kingdom in every manner. And as the Bible predicts, since he adopted that philosophy God has blessed him even more.
I was communicating with him the other day and he described himself as being akin to the one leper that went back and thanked Jesus. This refers to a passage in Luke 17:15 – “When one of them saw that he was healed, he came back. He praised God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him. The man was a Samaritan.
When Jesus saw the Samaritan, He immediately wondered about the other nine men who had also been healed.
Jesus asked, “Weren’t all ten healed? Where are the other nine? Didn’t anyone else return and give praise to God except this outsider?”
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up and go. Your faith has healed you.”
This little passage is interesting. The story about the ten lepers occurred when Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. The men met him, but stayed a distance away. (The law said a leper must not come near and must call out “Unclean!” so people would know he had leprosy.) They called out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” They knew he had healed others. Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priests, and as they were going, a miraculous thing happened. Their skin became clean and free from leprosy! I can just imagine the overwhelming joy that they must have enjoyed.
The man who returned to thank Jesus was a Samaritan, a person despised by the Jews. Jesus expressed disappointment to him that the other nine had not thought to give praise to God for their healing. From this we learn that God desires for us to express our thankfulness to Him for all He does in our lives.
Even though Jesus did not withhold healing the physical infirmity from the nine who did not thank Him, He made a point of noting their lack of gratefulness. Because they had faith, all ten were physically healed. But Jesus’ final words to the grateful Samaritan showed that this man received spiritual healing in addition to the cleansing of his skin. The others only got the outward cure, he alone got the spiritual blessing. Jesus’ final words to the grateful Samaritan were: “Rise and go; your faith has made you well” (verse 19).
When we take time to acknowledge the Giver and not just the gifts, we please the Lord as well as enjoy the spiritual healing that comes from gratefulness.
So, my questions this morning are: Is Jesus well pleased in how you are demonstrating your thankfulness for the blessings He has given to you, (not the least of which is eternal life and forgiveness of your sins)?
Is there anything tangible that you are doing to serve God that demonstrates your unending gratefulness for God’s healing of the sin in your life?
Psalm 136:1
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
August 2 2016 – Click here to listen