GIVE THANKS!

You know the drill. A problem arises, or a need presents itself, and off to prayer we go. We faithfully wait and trust. We spend the next days or hours waiting for God to move on our behalf. Then it happens. God provides. Our problem is solved or our need is met. Now what? We make our way through the next days happy and in a good mood because we made it past the latest crisis.

Unfortunately, we often forget to return to the same God we were pleading with just previously. We forget to return and say thank you. Maybe we even fail to recognize that it was God answering our prayer. We may simply count ourselves lucky that the problem worked out. We should make it our habit to be as diligent in thanksgiving as we are in asking.

Scripture records a story of ten lepers that Jesus met on the way to Jerusalem. These ten cry out to Jesus, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us” (Luke 17:13). We can’t really blame them. The life of a leper was a lonely one. You were not allowed to have contact with anyone. Additionally, you were watching your body literally be eaten by a disease.

Jesus answers the lepers by saying, “Go and show yourselves to the priests” (17:14). In other words, you have been healed, now go get verification. Once the lepers had this verification, only one returned to thank Jesus. Jesus asks him, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” (Luke 17:17-18). What happened to the other nine? Their lives had just been forever changed. No longer did they have to live in isolation. Sadly, once the problem was solved, they forgot about the Lord and went on their way.

We must be careful not to be in the company of the nine. We must be like the one. The one who came back to say thank you and give glory to God. We must find ourselves in this 10% that takes time to worship. We must be careful about moving on with life too quickly after a problem has been solved. Give glory to God for the things He does in your life.