Intentional Gratitude
“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 he was a Samaritan.” Luke 17:15-16
Luke 17 has a beautiful example of what it looks like to worship a good God. There were 10 lepers who called out to Jesus from a distance asking for healing. Jesus healed all 10 of the lepers. There is a lot more to this story, but let’s look at the one that came back.
Jesus healed 10 lepers, yet only 1 came back to thank Him.
Most were probably just so full of joy and wanted to get back to normal and into society. The 9 most likely did not intentionally not thank Jesus, they were just so caught up in what they experienced that it slipped their mind.
Worshiping God and thanking Him is intentional, and it is a sacrifice. Instead of doing whatever he wanted to, the one came back and thanked Jesus first.
Worshiping a good God is about thanking Him and worshiping Him for all that He has given us, not just receiving the gifts and living our lives apart from Him.
Be the one who comes back to thank God each and every single day. Have a loud voice, fall on your face in adoration, and become undignified in your praise and worship to Him. It is not about what others think about you. It is about responding to God and not caring what it looks like or who is looking. He has saved, healed, and delivered us. We should celebrate and come boldly into His presence and thank Him.
Let’s be like the one healed leaper today and come back and thank Jesus.
Father, thank You, for all that You have given me. I want to always be the one who comes back to thank you. I don’t want to get caught up in the gift and what You have given me and lose sight of You, the One who gave me the gifts. Your gifts are amazing and beautiful, but what I want more than what You can give me, is You. I want to be closer to You today. In Jesus’ name, amen.