The word thankful is defined in the dictionary as: one who is conscious of benefits received, feeling or expressing gratitude, appreciative. Did you know there have been scientific studies that show the benefits of thankfulness? In 2014, Forbes.com published “7 Scientifically Proven Benefits of Gratitude that will Motivate You” (Click here to read the article ) Here are some of the findings:
1. Gratitude opens the doors to more relationships.
2. Gratitude improves your physical and psychological health
3. Gratitude enhances empathy and reduces aggression
4. Grateful people sleep better…are some of the findings.
Although we probably didn’t need to see these scientific findings to figure out these things, we must conclude that being thankful is more than “a good idea mom told us to do when we were young.”
Sometimes we claim thankfulness but live a different way. Our actions will often betray our own words. For example:
I’m very careful what I eat…I don’t know why I’m gaining weight. Yet, fast food accounted for 3 out of my last 5 meals.
I would never gossip like JJ…meanwhile, we are gossiping to another about how we wouldn’t gossip like a JJ.
I would count myself a thankful person…however, our conversations in the last 7 days have often turned to complaining about co-workers/the boss, or about how we don’t like what we have, or about how others aren’t meeting our expectations
A thankful heart LOOKS like a thankful heart, TALKS like a thankful heart, SOUNDS like a thankful heart. We must honestly evaluate the reality of a thankful heart in the mirror of God’s Word.
What comes from a thankful heart? Luke 17:12-19
Personal Transformation.
What is leprosy? William Barclay (The Daily Study Bible: Matthew [Westminster Press], 1:295) describes the devastating path of the most extreme forms of leprosy.
“It might begin with little nodules which go on to ulcerate. The ulcers develop a foul discharge; the eyebrows fall out; the eyes become staring; the vocal chords become ulcerated, and the voice becomes hoarse, and the breath wheezes. The hands and feet always ulcerate. Slowly the sufferer becomes a mass of ulcerated growths. The average course of that kind of leprosy is nine years, and it ends in mental decay, coma and ultimately death.
Leprosy might begin with the loss of all sensation in some part of the body; the nerve trunks are affected; the muscles waste away; the tendons contract until the hands are like claws. There follows ulceration of the hands and feet. Then comes the progressive loss of fingers and toes, until in the end a whole hand or a whole foot may drop off. The duration of that kind of leprosy is anything from twenty to thirty years. It is a kind of terrible progressive death in which a man dies by inches.”
This is from what they were physically saved. This is huge!
ONE LEPER gives glory to God.
What could this leper possibly be thinking that the other lepers are not – that he would stop to give praise to God and the others did not?
Why was he the only one to do such a thing?
Was he closer to death than the rest? Was he the first to contract the disease and ended up spreading it to the others?
Was he the only one who had children from which he had been separated? Was he the only newlywed and had thought he was never again to see his new bride?
We do not know the dogmatic answers to these questions. The Bible never tells us those details. We do know that 90% of the healed lepers did NOT stay to give glory to God. We know that one who stayed was a Samaritan. We also know that he would not leave his position at Jesus’ feet (“fell down on his face at His feet” (17:16) until Jesus told him to go (17:19). “Thy faith hath saved thee” (literally), is the phrase Jesus speaks here. Was it the Samaritan’s faith that impacted his thankful heart or his thankful heart that bolstered his faith? Or some of both? Either way, faith and thankfulness are connected. He receives more than the other 9 lepers. Some commentators believe this is a reference to his salvation.
Only ONE MAN was personally transformed. Consider the characteristics of this man showing thankfulness:
He was broken.
He fell on his face. (Ps. 51:17; Is. 57:15) Broken means overwhelmed with sorrow. This Samaritan could not get over what Jesus did for him! So…he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet.
He was determined.
He wasn’t going anywhere else. Jesus was His priority. Jesus was his first destination. (Jer. 29:13; Matt. 6:33)
He was single-focused.
He didn’t follow the other 9 men who were healed and ran away. He didn’t run to family or friends. He turned to Jesus. (Phil. 3:14)
Our wants are truly a hindrance to the pathway of thanksgiving. We want to be with our friends…we want to get this job done…we want to rest…we want to have fun…we want to make money…and the list goes on! We are all lepers, spiritually! We are need the healing hand of Jesus. This thankful heart comes from selfless, humble love of Jesus.
A great army, many years ago, invaded Scotland. They crept on stealthily over the border and prepared to make a night attack on the Scottish forces. There lay the camp, all silently in the starlight, never dreaming that danger was so near. The Danes, to make their advance more noiseless, came forward barefooted. But as they neared the sleeping Scots one unlucky Dane brought his broad foot down squarely on a bristling thistle. A roar of pain was the consequence, which rang like a trumpet blast through the sleeping camp. In a moment each soldier had grasped his weapon, and the Danes were thoroughly routed. The thistle was from that time adopted as the national emblem of Scotland. (Source: Encyclopedia of Illustrations #14082).
Thanklessness or ingratitude is like stepping on a thistle! We often don’t see it until it’s too late, but the outcome of stepping into thanklessness is painful. Rooting out the weed of thanklessness requires nurturing a stronger relationship of love with Jesus Christ! The leper responded with brokenness, determination, & a laser focus on the One for which he directed his love. He considered all he received from Jesus…nothing seemed to be more important!
We must consider all we have received from Jesus: our former condition…our devastating direction…and our hopeless living. I once was lost, but now I’m found! I was blind…but then came Jesus!! This kind of thinking isn’t automatic – it must be chosen. 10 lepers were healed, but only 1 returned to give glory to God!
Zach Dunlap said he feels, “Pretty good,” Just four months after the doctors almost removed his organs because he was declared brain dead. Mr. Dunlap was pronounced dead November 19, 2007 at United Regional Healthcare System in Wichita Falls, Texas. While family members payed their last respects just before his organs were to be given for transplant, he moved his foot and hand in reaction to a pocketknife being scraped across his foot and pressure being applied under one of his fingernails.
“I feel pretty good, but it’s just hard ... just ain’t got the patience,” Zach told NBC.
Mr. Dunlap said he does not remember the accident he went thorough, but he does remember hearing the doctors pronounce him dead. He was asked if he would have wanted to get up and shake them and say he’s alive, Mr. Dunlap responded: “Probably would have been a broken window.” His father, Doug, was shown the results of the brain scan, “There was no activity at all, no blood flow at all.” Zach’s mother, Pam, said he is doing, “Amazingly well,” but still has problems with his memory as his brain heals from the traumatic injury. She said, “It may take a year or more before he completely recovers. But that’s OK. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. We’re just all so thankful and blessed that we have him here.”
Mr. Dunlap has the pocketknife that caused his response. He says it, “Makes me thankful, makes me thankful that they didn’t give up.” (Source: New York Daily News, March 24, 2008)
Aren’t you glad God does not give up on us? Praise be to God! So, should we give up on each other?
…so much for which to be thankful….