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One of my favourite accounts from the Bible about being thankful to God is found in Luke 17 where 10 lepers were healed but only one returned to give thanks. Are we like that? Do we forget to give thanks sometimes? Here are the details to read from the New King James version in Luke 17:11-19: "Now it happened as He [Jesus] went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 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' ". This scriptural account is very interesting with lots to meditate upon. God's perfect humour is subtle but nonetheless there when He asks where are the nine He healed?
So many things to consider and consult with God in prayer. The most obvious one is that 9/10 or 90% of people in this instance are not thankful or do not express it when they should, for they go on with their busy lives forgetting to stop first and show their gratitude thereby placing other things in higher priority. Who better to be most grateful than a leper, shunned by others while leading a lonely life away from family and friends for suffering with a debilitating illness — does this not remind us of all those hospitalised and/or isolated during the last couple of years refused the basic right of having a loved one visit them in their time of great need while so many died alone? This travesty made me very angry because those in power had no right to do this, but they did it anyway through bluff and unpreparedness for such a situation we all found ourselves in globally. The medical profession has become a disgrace to me in this regard since they have mishandled so much since the "C" virus appeared, however I am incredibly thankful that God removed me from it in September 2020. Never thought in my wildest dreams that this would be the very sad reality we face now. Nurses were systematically and progressively stripped of their rights for being the patient's advocate through misinformation, fear tactics, threatening and the ugliest, bullying behaviour tied in to emotional blackmail linked to repeated lies and relentless propaganda, all of which the devil would be involved in. Actually, I will dare to go one step even further and state that this has all the tell tale hallmarks of our #1 enemy Satan, the Devil, our Adversary, all over it. Do we ever give a thought about whether public nuisance #1 would ever give any thanks for anything? No, it would expect everything while thanking itself for how great its abilities are in such an elevated prideful state rather than thanking God for creating it as an angel, even an archangel (Isaiah 14 and Ezekial 28). The devil's way is all about taking and devouring voraciously without any thought of thanks while abusing its Creator and deceiving God's creation.
Returning to the account regarding the 10 lepers — as we can read, only one of them gave thanks, not a Jew but a Samaritan. Imagine that! So many lessons for Christians to take notice of from those in the world. We should be like Christ and know better with good manners and a thankful heart to everybody who shows kindness to us, no matter how small an act of love. Sad to say but this does not always happen. When I grew up my parents taught us to send a thank you note especially if we received gifts in the mail otherwise a smile, hug and verbal thank you would suffice when physically present. When attending weddings or engagement parties a thank you note was always given or sent to those soon after the happy event for the pleasure of their company and gift, no matter how small the gift was. Nowadays we have been to several such occasions in recent years but not so much as a brief thank you until years later in one instance. How strange! Surely people are not that busy but perhaps they are really busy in work and leisure activities instead, leaving nothing in the "tank" or in reserve. It is disappointing to see it from people who are held to a higher account. We all need to slow down, think, and ensure the simple things in life are dealt with otherwise we are not living to our best potential.
What highlighted the importance of being thankful recently was the situation where some family members who had been very ill with a little one hospitalised for several days, found themselves in need of help. Thankfully they are all back at home now and recovering with the acute danger passed. They were most grateful for the physical help in addition to the get well cards, gifts of food and toys etc from others. Their thankful attitude was very evident and expressed more than just once. We all like to be thanked as it is part of our human nature yet the Bible tells us not to expect anything including thanks but if it is forthcoming then we receive this most appreciatively (Luke 6:35). As I mature one thing of many that God has highlighted to me is that I seem to always have high expectations and these started way back somewhere in the 1960s as a young child. Part of human nature no doubt because nobody told me to expect anything but I did it anyway not realising it could be detrimental and a big let down, weighing on my mind, leaving me wanting. Slowly but surely these expectations are lovingly being removed as God is showing me that it only leads to disappointment and sadness. Once we have been let down repeatedly then it does become easier to accept the inevitable — people's behaviour out there in the world for the most part is poor. Why should I expect it to be otherwise? It is not the time yet for the Kingdom of God when things eventually will be as they should. Take for instance the daily driving we do…it is sadly becoming more of a rarity these days when people acknowledge your kindness and consideration by giving a wave or signal of thanks for showing them courtesy on our roads. When somebody does do the right thing I am quite surprised and actually appreciate it more, and am then reminded about the single leper who returned gratefully acknowledging the help he received from God. This makes me really happy, but now I think of it as an unexpected bonus or blessing, not to be expected or counted on, but as a form of encouragement.
Therefore, to sum up nicely and succinctly how we should live according to God's will for us — it is written in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you". How beautiful to read these words and then put into action as part of our everyday lives. Think about what you last gave thanks to God for and perhaps on your first conscious moment when waking each morning this may be for another day of life. Nice positive habit to get into with the challenge of originality to couple this expression of thanks with another mention of something else — perhaps for creating you, your spouse, children, your calling, your home, and you can keep on going for the rest of your life. The choice is yours and God loves to hear all your expressions of thankfulness. By challenging yourself to change it up you can be quite creative and develop an even closer connection to God via your prayer life and have fun with it showing Him how much you really do appreciate and meditate upon His benefits of protection, provision, counselling/advice, teaching, direction, admonition, and all those things you reason together upon (Isaiah 1:18). It is also a lovely way to bring in the weekly Sabbath by thinking about all those times God has helped you during the past week personally, as a family, and to also discuss these with your children over the evening meal. Encouraging and including them in this way sets them up for an original and heartfelt prayer life. Years ago this was how we began our Sabbath when even a 5 year old can think of quite a few things to say thank you to God for. One of which I firmly remember was the family pet cat. No matter what it is, we all have many things to be thankful for.
God is showing us that we should be like the one leper who gave grateful thanks. Think about who you last said thank you to verbally; now think about those same words but in written form. Have you had thoughts of thankfulness towards another but have not had the opportunity to relay these face to face as yet? These are part of the things we need to get busy with in order to redeem the time and not waste a moment. Today may be your last day to say thank you to your neighbour for example as only God knows if you or they will be here tomorrow. A sincerely thankful attitude with a humble heart will carry us on well as we traverse these end times which we can see are becoming more and more full of selfish demands and expectations as is becoming the norm out there these days. However, we are meant to be the example set to show others who are suffering in a very confused and perverted world by being the difference, making a difference, to shine our lights in this very dark world (Matthew 5:16). So let us always be ready keeping our hearts and minds full of a thankful attitude towards God and others, for who can tell if someone may be led to God through our example? Perhaps God has placed them before you on a certain day to see how you will respond especially when you are tired and in a hurry. Being thankful is not hard, does not cost anything except very minimal effort and a little time. When we do this we are practising Agapé love and becoming more like Christ, and isn't that exactly what we hope to achieve and aim for?! More than anything else we desire this transformation.