"ARE YOU THANKS-LINVING?"

Ortega's at the pyramids in Giza

I often get frustrated listening to our Office Administrator deal kindly with people coming in from the streets asking for help.  As I listen to the conversation, I quickly pickup on what I call an “entitlement attitude”. Too often, people feel they are entitled to whatever we can give them. It is not uncommon for Emily to provide them with what they have asked for without getting as much as a thank you. I know that you have observed the same across our city.
     

As Christ-followers, we should make a focused effort each and every day, not just one day a year, to appreciate ALL the blessings God has blessed us with. Our lives should be filled daily with a spirit of “Thanks-living”. Psalm 92:1 reads, “It is good to praise the Lord and make music to His name to proclaim his love in the morning and his faithfulness in the night.” Did you catch what the verse said? Day and night we are to praise God and thank Him!  The apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 2:7 that our lives are to abound in thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2 reads that we are to be devoted to giving thanks. Philippians 4:6 says we are to do everything with prayer and thanksgiving. In Psalm 116, we read that we are to make our lives a thanksgiving offering before the Lord. The book of Hebrews says we are to serve the Lord with thanksgiving. And our lives as Christ followers are to be filled with a spirit of thanksgiving and gratitude towards the Lord for all He has done.
     

In Luke 17:11-19 [NLT], we read of ten lepers who stood at a distance and cried out to Jesus as He was traveling along the border of Samaria and Galilee. These diseased lepers cried out, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us.” Jesus heard them and said promptly, “Go show yourselves to the priest.” And Luke 17:14 says, “And as the lepers 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 v. 17 records the response of Jesus to the one leper who returned. “Were not all ten healed? he said. Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”
     

Jesus' emotional response to the ingratitude of the other nine lepers gives us a look into the heart of God. Obviously Jesus was disappointed that only one person cared enough to express any gratitude. William Barclay writes, “No story in all the gospels so poignantly shows man's ingratitude like the lepers in Luke 17. The lepers came to Jesus with desperate longing. He cured them and only one came back to give thanks. So often once a man has got what he wants, he never returns.” Doesn't that sound just like us? We take God's goodness for granted as these nine lepers did. We’re blessed beyond what we deserve and yet, rarely do we go back and give God our gratitude and thanksgiving, recognizing the very source of our blessings.  Psalms 103:2 reads, “Blessed be the Lord, O my soul and forget not all his blessings.”

So, how can we develop an attitude of gratitude;

an attitude of thanksgiving?

1st: Remember that gratitude please God.

“... and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the LORD, and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the LORD, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,” the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.” (2 Chronicles 5:13-14)

2nd: Avoid complaining – at all cost!

“Do all things without grumbling and faultfinding and complaining [against God] and questioning and doubting [among yourselves]”

(Philippians 2:14) [AMP]

3rd: Make a personal choice to rejoice!

“Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will].”

 (1 Thessalonians 5:18 [AMP] 

4th: Decide to live thankfully everyday!

We read in Daniel 6 that Daniel got down on his knees three times everyday and prayed- giving thanks to his God.

Regardless of how small or large your blessing is, learn to search out the positive amidst the negative and give thanks for what you do have!

Here are a few questions to help you personalize this study:

1. Who do you know that expresses gratitude to God for everything?
2. Why do you think Jesus sent the lepers to the priests rather than healing them instantly?
3. Why do you think all but one of the lepers failed to come back and thank Jesus?
4. What was significant about the man who returned back to thank Jesus?
5. Who do you need to thank for something they have done for you?
6. How has Jesus healed or “cleansed” you in the past? How do you need healing or “cleansing” now?

Ortega's with "Old Jersualem" and "Dome of the Rock" in the background

May you’re Thanksgiving be filled with blessings and gratitude!

~Pastor Ruben and Gayla and staff