Thankful Living is a Sign of Character

None of us have much respect for the person unwilling to take the time to say thanks. Saying “Thank-you” is one of those things in life that separate the sheep and the goats.  Everyone may feel gratitude, but to go to the troubled of expressing that gratitude is a sign of character.  It says something about the kind of person you are.

One can only imagine the joy of those lepers in Luke’s Gospel when they were healed by Jesus—jumping, shouting, and praising God.  What a celebration they must have had when they discovered their decaying and disfigured bodies had been made whole.  They must have been delirious with joy.

 

 

A man who played the French horn in the Salvation Army band used to say, “When I think of what the Lord has done for me, I could just blow this old horn out straight.”  That is how these ten lepers must have felt.  

For a child of God, thankfulness is not confined to a day or a season, it is an attitude that we should have every minute of every day.  Have you remembered to thank God for: a good night’s sleep, a day of blue sky and sunshine that gets you outside, a day of gray skies and drizzle that keeps you inside, the unexpected voice of a distant friend on the telephone, the comfort of the Psalms, Mozart, Haagen-Dazs, uncontrollable laughter, unashamed tears, your spouse, your children.

The greatest instrument of healing God has ever used in this world only needed to be employed one time.  That single act of healing was the cross.  Our greatest wounds, our most serious infirmities, our most malicious malignancies, were all wiped out by this radical act of spiritual surgery.  Through Jesus’ sacrifice, the destructive power of death was crushed, leaving in its place our choice for health and wholeness.

 

The paraphrase of Psalm 111 goes like this:  “My heart is full today.  I am so grateful for all that God has done for me.  I need but crawl out of my corner of depression and self-pity and look around me to see how great my God is.”

 

Go With God,

Pastor Qualley

 

Living Gratefully is a Sign of Faith

St. Paul advised us to give thanks in all circumstances.  The ability to develop a spirit of gratitude regardless of our situation is a statement that we believe that God is at a work in our universe and that all things work to the good for those who love him.  Such an attitude makes for a joy and a peace that is beyond price.

Charles Spurgeon writes about a weathervane on the roof of a farm building that said, “God is love.”  “Do you think God’s love is as changeable as that weathervane?” asked another farmer.  “You miss the point. It’s on the weathervane because no matter which way the wind is blowing, God is still love.”

 

 

There have been times in my life when things were difficult and I felt far too inadequate.  I would turn to my devotional book and would underline things like this, “We have too small a conception of God, of his greatness, of His almighty power, of His wisdom, and of His love.  The Lord is far greater than we can understand.  In the struggle of life there are many things that go against us or make us restless and afraid.  At such times, we turn to Jesus and in His presence we are quieted.”

Praise may easily stop when days are dark and troubles are many.  Do not let that happen.  The most beautiful singers among the birds learn their songs in the night.  If God leads us into darkness, it is only that we may learn the better how to sing.  The songs of praise will make the night light and good.”

We anchor our lives on the promises of scripture, “In this world you will face trials and tribulations, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, and not as the world gives do I give you peace, so set your troubled hearts at rest.”

Living Gratefully

A number of years ago I was having breakfast early in the morning at a neighborhood restaurant.  As the plate of eggs, bacon, and toast were placed in front of me, I bowed my head to say grace.  When I lifted my there stood the waitress. “Something wrong with the eggs?” she asked?  “No,”  I said, “I was just saying grace.”

“Oh, not many people do that around here,” was her reply.

It seems to be human nature to forget to say, “Thank You.”  We all understand and appreciate the importance of gratitude.  In fact, one of the first things we were taught and that we teach our children is to express their gratitude.  When someone gives them something, we ask, “Now what do you say?”  And the child learns from an early age the answer “Thank you.”  And certainly we all know as adults that we appreciate being thanked.  Yet, when it comes to giving thanks to our heavenly father, we often miss the mark.

 

And when it comes to giving out thanks to God, I don’t suppose there is any story in the Bible that is so endearing to us, so timelessly appropriate, as the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers.

Always the master storyteller, Luke wastes not a word as he introduces our story.  “Standing at a distance,” indeed!  That was the plight of everyone certified by the priests as a “leper.”  When the wind was blowing from the leper toward a healthy person, it was prescribed that they must stand 50 years in the distance.  Removed to “reservations” in valleys and gorges outside of the towns, they were kept far from family and friends.  Food was carried and left a safe distance from the colony, a neutral area, to which the members of the colony would then come.  When it was necessary to go into the town, the leper would shout “Unclean! Unclean!  Some carried a little bell.  Its tinkling sound very nearly mimicked the terrible word: “Ding-a-ling! “Unclean”

“Unclean!”  The alienation and loneliness were as pressing a burden as the disease.

In ancient Hebrew tradition, “unclean” was a ceremonial term, not a medical one.  To be a leper was to be “unclean: before God as well.  Though not considered a sin in itself, leprosy was viewed as an act of God.  Priests were required to identify both the curse of the disease and the miracle of its cure.  The book of Deuteronomy gives precise instructions.  Healing was invariably interpreted as a miracle of God.  To be a leper was to live as if under the judgment of God on the one hand and outside the grace of God on the other.

 

No wonder, then, that they cried, “Jesus, Master, have a mercy on us!”  Mercy and grace were the only source of hope for healing the disease, ending the alienation from God, and providing restoration to the fellowship of family and friends.

Luke continues the story: Jesus commands the 10 to go and show themselves to the priests.  Obeying Jesus, they went, and during the journey they were healed.  If ever there were candidates for spontaneous gratitude, they must surely be those 10 newly cleansed people.

It may be assumed that nine continued on their journey to the priests for the verification of the healing.  But one of the 10 overwhelmed by the miracle of grace he had received, momentarily abandons the journey to the priests and returns “praising God with a loud voice,” and “he fell at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks.”  Luke’s next words add to the impact of the apparent ingratitude of the others.  “Now he was a Samaritan.”

Gratitude is spontaneous.  It cannot be manipulated or cajoled.  It cannot be purchased.

Go With God,

Pastor Qualley