COURAGE TO GIVE THANKS

• DAY 218
• FEAR FILE: 10 LEPERS
• SCRIPTURES: LUKE 17:12-19

Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

Gratitude will get you a whole lot more than ingratitude, pride, and entitlement would. There is no single person that you are going to say thank you to for what they have done that won’t feel pleased enough and inclined to do something for you the next time. But this we’re even talking about humans. How much more? God.

So in our text today, Jesus encounters ten lepers and instructed them to go show themselves to the priest as was the custom for lepers. That was the instruction they needed to follow to get their healing. As they went, they were healed and only one of them had the courage to notice that healing had occurred. When he did, he returned and gave Jesus thanks. Only one person means that 10% of this group realized that it was necessary to stop himself in his tracks, interrupt his journey of going to the priest, and turn back to give thanks.

Gratitude requires some intentionality.

First, we have to be paying attention. Because that is the only way to notice that God has done something in our lives. And when we notice it, we should come to Him with thanks. Saying, “God, I recognize what you have done for me, thank you.” That’s what it means to give God glory, to know that He’s the one that did it, and to proclaim it.

Our faith is boosted when we notice what God has done. When we are attentive enough to see that He did something here and he changed something there. Then our heart has a record of his goodness. And next time we encounter something, we have a history of his goodness and that fuels our faith.

Beloved, I want to encourage you today to take note of what God has done for you. Look at your life and acknowledge that God is the source of every good thing that you encounter and you have experienced. Acknowledge it and praise Him for it. Taking notes might mean that you have to get a journal, a place where you can record what God has done with the dates. This way, when you get in those seasons where anxiety has gripped your heart, you can look at it and see the track record of what God has done in your life because you were intentional enough to notice it, record it, and give Him the glory for it. 

Shalom.