Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Thanks, Jesus!

Luke 17:17 "Didn't I heal ten men? Where are the other nine?"

We have so many reasons to be thankful. This week I've been posting on Facebook why I'm thankful. I've also seen a lot of my friends posting reasons they are thankful. It's been great seeing all the reasons....religious freedom, a Savior, family, friends, cornbread dressing, our country. We do indeed have a lot to be thankful about!

This morning I thought I would write a blog about Thanksgiving. In my thoughts I was wondering what verse in the Bible to use as my focus because there are so many that reference giving thanks to God. Psalm 100, or one of the many other Psalms, or Ezra 3:11, or maybe a New Testament reference to thanksgiving like "give thanks in all circumstances". So many verses to pick from!

Then, God reminded me of Luke 17. In Luke 17, verses 11 to 19, it tells of 10 lepers being healed by Jesus. They had all cried out to Jesus when He passed by and Jesus responded, "Go show yourselves to the priests. " Then it states that as they went away their leprosy disappeared.

Now, I don't know about you, but I think I'd be so thankful to be healed of something like leprosy that I'd be yelling "THANK YOU" from the bottom of my lungs. But, if you read through the story it says that only one of them ran back to Jesus to say thank you. One!!! One tenth of those that were healed showed their gratefulness to their Healer! YIKES!!! And was Jesus concerned about that? You better bet He was! He responded, "Didn't I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Does only this foreigner return to give glory to God?" And then Jesus said to the man, "Stand up and go. Your faith has made you well."

I don't know about you, but I don't want to be one of the nine that didn't show their gratefulness to God for their healing! I want to proclaim to God my thankfulness, and tell others around me about the healing He's done in my life. I know God is watching, and He wants to hear from me. He wants to hear from you too!

Oh God! Please forgive me for when I've not been grateful! Thank You so much for all the things You healed in me and will heal in me. Thank You so much for all the blessings You've given me! Thank You so much for dieing for me. I'm so lost without you. You are my reason for living and You alone deserve all the glory and honor. Help me to remember that this Thanksgiving Day, and on every day!