Thankful

 

Prayer and praise to our Heavenly Father is the outpouring of a thankful heart. Israel's King David himself was a man after God’s own heart. Psalm 100 says: “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all you lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before His presence with singing. Know you that the LORD He is God: it is He that has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endures to all generations.”

Thanksgiving in The United States is a uniquely American holiday. The first thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims... Puritan Christians celebrating in gratitude to God for His divine providence for blessing them with fellowship, peace, and the bounty of an abundant harvest.  

George Washington wrote a declaration of Thanksgiving as the first president of the United States. According to Washington’s declaration, “Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor—and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.” 

During the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving as a National holiday. An excerpt from Lincoln’s Thanksgiving declaration says, “It has seemed to me fit and proper that the (gracious gifts of the Most High God) should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens of the United States... to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November... as a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.”

In Luke 17 Jesus illustrated the importance of a thankful heart. This is the record of his healing ten lepers. As Jesus went into Galilee after passing through Samaria, ten lepers called out to Jesus, “Master, have mercy on us.” Jesus said to them, “Go show yourselves to the priest.” As they were walking, they were healed. When they realized that they had been healed, only one of the ten lepers ran back after Jesus to thank him. This man was a Samaritan. Jesus said, “Werent’ there ten lepers? Where are the other nine?”  

The lesson to the nine lepers is to beware of the sin of ingratitude. The lesson to the one Samaritan is the duty and the beauty of a thankful heart.  

In the Jewish tradition, proper Jews would avoid going through Samaria on their way to Galilee. Jesus never followed this tradition. The Jews considered Samaritans as half breeds. They were descendants of the twelve tribes of Israel whose blood line was contaminated by taking wives from heathen nations. Even though proper Jews traveled the long way around, Jesus often went right through Samaria.  

Lepers were outcasts in their society. However, in a leper colony, it didn’t matter who your relatives were or your country of origin. Their common bond was their disease which required them to be quarantined and set apart from their communities. They were joined by their common bond of disease and misery. Their hearts were likeminded in their desire to be delivered from their debilitating disease.  

Leprosy is a picture of sin. One of the worst aspects of leprosy is that it numbs pain. Sores and gangrene from this disease don’t cry out for attention. Likewise, sin “sears the conscious like a hot iron.” When we are indoctrinated by the world to accept sin, then we’re in the devil’s domain. When we convince our own minds to call good evil and evil good, sin no longer convicts us. God sent his Holy Spirit to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.

Salvation’s healing wholeness starts with humility and shame about sin and iniquity. To seek deliverance from disease requires that we first realize that we are sick. Jesus came not to minister to those who thought they were healthy but to those who realized they were in need of healing. David was living comfortably in sin with Bathsheba. David’s confrontation with the Prophet Nathan is an example of his becoming aware of his need for deliverance. Repentance, turning from sin to righteousness, is the first requirement for returning back to the Lord.  

The Lepers realized their position as outcasts who were in need of healing and restoration. Jesus healed different people in different ways. Jesus said, “I always do my father’s will.” Jesus did not use a common method to heal the sick. Instead, he listened to the specific instructions of his Father and did exactly as his Father revealed to him according to his Father’s will.

When Jesus cleansed the ten lepers, only one came back to thank him. All ten had been ostracized from their families and communities. Their heart’s desire was to be delivered from this disease to be reconciled back with their families, friends, and circles of fellowship. However, when they were healed, they forgot to be thankful.

Only the one leper, a Samaritan, returned to Jesus, fell on his face, and worshipped his Lord. Jesus had said, “I am the way, the truth, and the light. No man cometh to the father except by me.” The story fo the ten lepers proves Jesus’ parable that said, “Broad is the way that leads to destruction. But narrow is the way and narrow is the gate that leads to eternal life.” 

In John 2, Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover. Howerver Jesus did not commit himself to anyone, for he knew what was in the fickle heart of man. He knew that man’s fallen nature was to be double minded. The natural man without God’s Holy Spirit is without conviction. James says, “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” Double minded men blow hot and cold... they are here today and gone tomorrow.  

The one leper who thanked Jesus was the one out of ten who came through the narrow gate to follow his Lord. He fell at the feet of Jesus indicating his complete surrender and acknowledgement of his commitment that Jesus is Lord.  

Jesus had said to the ten lepers, “Go show yourselves to the priest.” According to Old Testament law, the priest is the one who would certify that a leper had been cleansed and could enter back into society. The Samaritan returned to Jesus, the high priest after the order of Melchizedek. The Old Testament priests offered sacrifices over and over on behalf of the people. However, Jesus Christ our high priest after the order of Melchizedek offered himself as the spotless lamb of God once for all time. For Jesus Christ who was was without sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him. Jesus Christ is the true high priest, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

Our joy, rejoicing, prayer and praise is to be thankful unto him, and bless His name. For what are we thankful? God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. The greatest blessing is the resurrection... that in him we died and that in him we were raised again from the dead when we were justified at his resurrection.

Therefore, be thankful unto him and bless his name. For the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations that we may ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!

Your brother in Christ,
Michael