A Thankful Heart

By: Melanie Moore

Around November of each year, you may start to see social media posts around gratitude. You might even enjoy participating in a "gratitude challenge" where you post one thing each day for the month of November that you are thankful for. I think this is a wonderful idea, but as I sit here in the last "dog days" of summer, I wonder if I've forgotten to be thankful for several months...

My prayer time with the Lord often looks like a grocery list where I run down my needs of things I want God to do for me or give me. I am not proud to admit that. I don't want to only come to the Lord with my list of "give me's". Give me food, give me friends, give me comfort, give me health...

Instead, I am reminding myself to learn from the parable of the ten lepers in Luke 17:

Luke 17:11-19

Jesus Cleanses Ten Lepers

On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

In this parable we see that Jesus healed ten people who were dealing with the horrific disease of leprosy which left them in pain and separated from their community. Jesus welcomed their prayers, and we should certainly lift up our needs to the Lord and call on Him for help. However, the key part of this parable that touched my heart was what happened after Jesus healed them.

We see that Jesus healed ten men, but only one of them paused to recognize what Jesus had done for him and say "thank you". If I were a character in this parable, who would I be? The nine who were healed and ran off to live their lives? Or, the one who paused to recognize Jesus' work in his life and take time to thank him?

Friends, let's take some time today to thank God for all he has done for us. As I stop and think about my life, I could write books and books of things God has done for me, and I could never list everything. However, I do want to be more intentional in pausing to thank God for his work in my life, and I hope this parable will encourage you to do the same.