THE LOSS OF THANKFULNESS
LUKE 17:12-19
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.”
WHAT IS LEPROSY?
It is an infectious disease that can cause severe disfiguring skin sores, nerve damage in the arms and legs; it renders the limbs loss of all feeling. The disease itself is not contagious and was considered the most terrible of diseases with the progressive disfigurement of face, body, loss of fingers, hands, legs and sight.
There were 10 lepers, all were healed by Jesus but only one came back to THANK Him. We are lepers in a way; do we all go back and give thanks? We are often in a worse state because the lepers knew how ill they were, what state they were in and they know whom they asked to heal them. We do not realize how unclean we are.
Let us take it this way: the ten lepers represent all of human nature: wickedness, greed,sin,uncleanness, anger, jealousy, standing afar from God. Leprosy is a metaphor for our sins; we cannot approach God when we are full of sins. When we realize something is wrong, do we take it to God, do we ask for His help? We take God’s blessings for granted: like healing our wounds, our illness, lifting our spirits. It is abit like the way we treat people, once they do something for us, we like them. When they don’t we turn our backs on them. We should keep in mind that all the help and encouragement we receive be it from people or God; it is done with God’s will.
Do we turn and say thank you, really mean it from the bottom of our hearts or do we like the lepers turn back to our lives?
These days it is due to mindlessness, distraction and busyness, WE HAVE BECOME UNGRATEFUL!!!
Like those lepers I sometimes get so busy and distracted to stop and give thanks and pray. That is what the devil wants, us to be so busy that even the word that means a lot does not get said. Until we start to give to others we will not appreciate what is given to us, until we have lost something or someone will we not know its worth.
The word ‘thank’ basically means gratitude, YOU ARE GRATEFUL FOR SOMETHING THAT SOMEONE ELSE DID FOR YOU!
Now to be thankful means to be full of thanks.
Colossians 2:6-7
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness..
Have you ever heard a child pray? They say thank you for everything going on at that moment in their lives. So now you sit here and wonder what have I got to be grateful for? Well I will get you started:
He gave you life
Your sins have been forgiven
He gave you the food that you eat and the cloths you wear.
We have a home in heaven
We have the Holy Spirit
He gave you this church and pastors
He gave you eternal life and faith in Jesus
We have His love
This is an order; God is commanding us throughout the bible 140 times to be thankful
“IF YOU CANNOT BE SATISFIED WITH WHAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED, BE THANKFUL FOR WHAT YOU HAVE ESCAPED’
Every person who has a grateful heart should thank God, take stock and count his blessings.
Psalm 34:1
I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Psalm 35:28
And my tongue shall speak of Your righteousness, And of Your praise all the day long.
It is never too late for us to give thanks. We always have thanks when everything is going well but when everything is wrong, do we give thanks? Is our lives so much worse than Paul’s who in the middle of serious troubles gave thanks. IF YOUR FAITH IS IN THE GOD WHO NEVER CHANGES then what difference does it make with what is going on around you. If things are going wrong in the present, is that a reason to stop being thankful for what GOD HAS ALREADY DONE FOR YOU IN THE PAST? In the midst of all your troubles can you find something to be thankful for?
Whether you can or not depends on you and your relationship with God. Remember
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
IN ALL THINGS, GIVE THANKS. That means, no matter where you are, no matter what is going on, no matter what is going on, no matter who you are with, no matter what day it is or what time – GIVE THANKS.
EPHESIANS 5:20
And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Many times we cannot see any good in a bad or evil situation which only God can turn around, what do we as humans do, we complain, we moan, and we blame God maybe instead of all that we should just thank Him.
If we were to be thankful for all that we have, to be content with what is given to us then feelings like envy, jealousy, covertousness, grumbling, complaining will not be ours.
Colossians 3:15
And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.
Jonah 2:7-9
Jonah was inside the belly of a great fish but yet he still gave God praise
DO YOU WANT TO HONOUR GOD AND WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR YOU?
Then all THE TIME OFFER HIM THANKSGIVING.
REVELATION 11:17
“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.
REVELATION 7:12
“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
Let us stand and just give thanks for something that means a lot to you. Still battling, here is a list that might help.
Prayer, song
