Luke 17:15-16
15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back,
praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. ESV
- I want to be the one. God did a work in ten lives and only one turned to thank Him. God I want to be the one that recognizes your hand in my life. I want to be the one that turns back in gratitude. I want to be the one that will lay down his own agenda to live for you. I want to be the one that you can use. God that is my prayer make me the one. I want to be different I want to be sold out. I want to meditate on your word. I want to see it come alive, I want to live it. I am in a world full of people that call themselves Christians, but so few of them live like the one. Make me the one. God use me to minister to lives let us be a generation filled with the ones. Are you the one, or are you one of the nine?
- The one must be willing to leave others. You can’t be the one if you are following the crowd. There is a price to be paid to be the one. For the leper he left his friends, and walked a little further, and delayed his entry into the city a little, giving his time. What is the price for you? Are you willing to pay it?
- The Scriptures are full of the stories of the men we can call the ones. Like Noah who was called alone out of his generation, David who was called a man after God’s own heart. Abraham who was called out of his people to have a relationship with God. The prophets who were willing to deliver messages that got many of them killed. Many of the apostles spread the gospel even when it cost them their lives. You can’t forget Steven the first martyr he definitely falls in the category of the one.
Luke 6:35
35 “Love your enemies! Do good to them! Lend to them! And don’t be concerned that they might not repay. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to the unthankful and to those who are wicked. NLT
- WHAT? You want me to do WHAT?? But God they are jerks, they are mean, they are bad, they are evil…whatever excuse we may come up with God’s response remains the same: love your enemies and do good to them.
- Have you ever tried to help someone who is unthankful? It is SO frustrating! Well, I definitely want to be acting like a “child of the Most High” but being kind to someone who is unthankful is hard.
- God help me to be more like you and to have a good attitude about my enemies or even just toward those that I don’t like.
Num 11:5-6
5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. 6 But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” ESV
When we look at the past through a complaining attitude we tend to have a glorified view of it. Back in the good old days, they were slaves in Egypt and got treated horribly. There is a huge lesson on perspective to be learned here.
First, things aren’t always as they seem. Second, complainers don’t see what they have until it is gone.
Even in the midst of slavery they could have seen things to be thankful for like the good food but back then they complained about being in slavery. Now they complain about their lack of food choices and mention their time of slavery as being great.
They just chose to think about the great things that they don’t have anymore, and the discomfort at the moment of what they do have. Their perspective had the ability to make slavery and mistreatment look better then freedom and mana the miracle of food being given to them everyday straight from heaven. We can choose to be thankful or to complain no matter where we are at in life. God wants us to always be thankful.Phil 2:14; 4:11;
Ps 100:4
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. NKJV
- Thankfulness Phil 4:6.
- Thankfulness is actually something we are commanded to do. It isn’t our circumstance or even a product of them but a choice we most make regardless of our circumstances.
- Thankfulness is a lens on the glass that we see the world through that changes what we see. It may not always change my circumstances but it will change what I see in them.
Thankfulness has seems to have more to do with perspective then it does with circumstances
