Practicing Gratitude in a Thankless World
In just a week’s time families all over the country will be gathering together over large quantities of food, stressing over the details and side dishes, and celebrating with traditions and rituals. At a time of the year when we pause from our busy lives to spend quality time with our families, create cherished memories with loved ones, and give thanks for our blessings, we often miss an important and life changing lesson that exists at the heart of the word we are celebrating, thankfulness. So before we dive in to the holiday season and the rush that ensues following Thanksgiving, let us take a moment to examine this word, its implications, and how we might practice it more than just once in a year.
In Luke 17:11 we find an interesting story only a few verses in length. In this passage, Jesus encounters ten individuals stricken with an incurable and life altering disease known as leprosy. Leprosy was not only incurable at this time in history, but was so terrifying to the people of the first century that it was met with disgust, shame, fear, and removal from society. To be a leper was to be cast out, isolated, disconnected, and unloved. Yet, as Jesus often did, he encounters these ten individuals and changes their lives forever. Their interaction begins in verse 13 as they, “stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.’” Jesus commands the ten lepers to go and show themselves to the priests at which time they are miraculously healed and cleansed of this terrible affliction. It is here that our story reaches a moment that should be of particular interest to us as readers in the twenty-first century. Out of the ten lepers miraculously healed and cured, “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, I am not known as a mathematician by any stretch of the imagination, but even I can read this story and identify that only 10% of the individuals healed returned to praise God and give thanks. That should cause your heart to pause. If your physical life here in on earth was doomed by a physical ailment that caused social alienation and the title “untouchable”, yet Jesus Christ the son of God heard your plea and granted you new life, would thankfulness not be your immediate response? What is my hearts response to the blessings God provides, and where does it turn to first? I want to offer some lessons from this story in scripture, and some insights for us to consider during this season and throughout our lives moving forward.
Thankfulness is a Practice. The truth here is simple and yet profoundly important to our daily functioning. We live in a busy and over-scheduled world. Our hearts, minds, calendars and attention are often pulled in many directions that distract, numb, and overwhelm us. It is only this one time of year that social convention dictates we pause and give thanks. This, dear reader, is simply insufficient. Therefore, we must choose to practice gratitude as a daily attitude that we take on. Recent research over the past twenty years has shown that when individuals take even a few minutes a day to identify three things that they are grateful for, symptoms of anxiety and depression begin to diminish and when practiced regularly can even dissolve entirely. Our hearts are wired for gratitude, but we must practice this each and every day. There is a choice within each of us to praise and thank God, or to focus on our circumstances, on the gift rather than the giver.
Thankfulness Resets my Focus on God. When we read the story in Luke 17 we might be tempted to believe that the lesson is on the healing and the miracle that changed ten lives forever. But in reality, the lesson is about the human heart and its focus on God. The leper who returned and gave thanks and praise to God recognized that his physical healing was merely a temporary symptom that provided mercy and relief. But in giving thanks to God, in praising God, he returned his focus and perspective to the giver of the gift, not the gift itself. When we posture our hearts in thanksgiving and gratitude, we reset our focus onto the giver, God almighty, rather than ourselves and the gifts we have received. If this story is a sample size of our world, then approximately 90% of us need a good healthy reset on our focus and perspective.
Thankfulness Recognizes God’s Mercy. When Jesus first saw these ten sick individuals, they called out to him from a distance to have mercy on them. Jesus has more than mercy, he blesses them with miraculous healing! But yet only one has a heart postured to respond in praise and gratitude. The problem with humans is that we are, quite frankly, entitled. We believe deep down we deserve good things, a good life, an equal opportunity, etc. But scripture paints for us a very different picture, Paul argues in Romans that the “wages” of our sin is death (Rom 6:23)! Essentially, the only thing we deserve is death, an eternal death by way of separation from God. Yet Paul also points out that while we were Christ’s enemies he died for us (Rom 5:8). Therefore it is not a stretch but a recognition of truth, that anything we receive from God is a blessing and is undeserved on our part. When we take the posture of gratitude we recognize that God has blessed us and had mercy upon us. That in place of death he has granted us life, and many blessings on top of that! The one Samaritan leper who returned to praise and give thanks, understood he deserved only death, and instead received mercy.
As the holiday season rolls in full steam ahead, may we posture our hearts and minds to a position of gratitude. In a world consumed with self-focus, may we live lives set apart, focused on the goodness and mercy of God to allow us blessings and life eternal. May we practice gratitude, focus on Christ, and recognize his mercies that are new every morning.
