Thanksgiving is around the corner. Even if I did not have a calendar, I would know it is getting close by the beautiful colors of the leaves. I hope you are taking note, as you are able to drive around, at how beautiful they are this year. They are simply amazing. I would also know Thanksgiving is getting close by the amount of leaves I blew off our driveway on Saturday. I couldn’t even see our driveway until I blew them off.
Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of year, that may be taken for granted because of football games, parades and family get togethers. My prayer is that you will not take this day for granted but make sure you pause and give God the thanks He so deserves. There is a story in the Bible of nine people who had the chance to give God thanks but failed to. The story is found in Luke 17:11-19. I encourage you to read the whole chapter, but I want to share with you one important verse. It is found in verse 17. Jesus has healed the ten lepers He met as he was traveling to Jerusalem. They called out for Him to have pity on them, which He did. Jesus told them to show themselves to the priest and as they went, they were cleansed.
When they realized they had been healed, we are told that one of them comes back to Jesus, praising God with a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. Jesus adds to the story by saying he was a Samaritan. It was strange that a Samaritan would come back to Jesus to say thanks. But he did. Jesus notices what has happened. Actually, Jesus notices what did not happen. Ten lepers were healed, one came back to say thanks. In verse 17 Jesus asks the Samaritan, “were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?” The Samaritan didn’t know the answer to His question. He was cleansed and he came back to give thanks. We are not sure about the others.
This story always saddens me to think that Jesus healed ten people and only one said “thank you”. This was a big healing. This was a life changing healing. Yet, it was taken for granted. While it is true our blessings may not reach the level of changing our lives that much, a blessing from God is just that. The blessings could be being healed, or maybe getting a new job, or maybe it is the chance to live another day. No matter what the blessing is, we should always make sure we do not take them for granted. Instead, we should always pause and give God thanks for what He has done for us. It saddens me the other nine did not come back. It also challenges me to be like the one who did. May we always be challenged and encouraged to give thanks. Until next week…
Peace and Blessings… Johnny
