The Thankful

 

Psalm 100:4 (KJV)

4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

 

Have you ever heard the phrase, “No good deed goes unpunished?” Sadly, this is too often a true statement.

 

The reason this is too often true is because those who the good deed is bestowed upon are unthankful.

 

Un-thankfulness

 

2 Timothy 3:2 (KJV)

2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

 

Here the great Apostle Paul is writing to his son in the gospel, Timothy. In chapter three, Paul warns Timothy that in the last days there would come a spirit into the world that would cause much trouble for the church.

 

Here in verse two, he tells Timothy that among the “lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, and unholy” would be people who were unthankful.

 

One may never expect that unthankful people would receive such a harsh judgment.

 

Is being unthankful really be such bad thing?  Why put it right before “unholy” in verse two?

 

Hebrews 12:14 (KJV)

14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

 

So if a lack of holiness would keep one from seeing the Lord, what would be the result of being unthankful?

 

One thing is true in every circle and that is that not everyone appreciates what you do for them.

 

No matter how hard you try to please some people they are never going to completely appreciate what you have done or at least the effort you have put into something.

 

There are some people in this world and even in the church who are simply unthankful people.

 

I’ve heard people pray for their food and say, “For these gifts we ask you to make us truly thankful.”

 

If they only knew what they are saying when they say that.

 

Being thankful is not a natural state of mind for most people. Being thankful comes from knowing want. It comes from not having.

 

A woman will be thankful for the husband she has when she understands what it means to not have a good husband.

 

A man will be thankful for the job he has when he has gone through a long period of time where he had no job.

 

Being broke teaches you how to be thankful.

 

Being sick teaches you how to be thankful for painless days.

 

Near death sickness teaches you how to be thankful for each and every day.

 

Being lonely teaches you how to be thankful for someone who goes out of their way to be your friend.

 

Thankful people are usually people who have been down the road of adversity.

 

They are people who know what it means to struggle.

 

They are people who have not had the world handed to them on a silver platter.

 

They worked hard to get where they are at.

 

They endured much expense and labor to reach a certain place.

 

They did all they could and when that failed, they prayed to Jesus before the help came, so they know where their help comes from.

 

The Bible sets unthankful people apart from thankful people.

 

It lets us know that to be unthankful is a sin, a grievous sin, as it should be.

 

When someone does something for you, the response of your heart and your lips should be “Thank You!”

 

Whether it’s God, your next door neighbor, someone in the church, or even a complete stranger.

 

When someone gives you something that belongs to them; time, money, prayer, love, the response should be thankful.

 

And our thanks should always be directed to the Lord.

 

Ephesians 5:20 (KJV)

20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

 

 

 

 

Everything; every good day, every pay raise, every good Dr. report, every help, every encouragement, every big and every little thing that encourages and blesses our life we should be thankful to God for.

 

Without that thankfulness we almost assuredly hinder the workings of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

 

Luke 17:12-19 (KJV)

12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: 13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

 

What an amazing miracle. What an amazing testimony.

 

Leprosy in that day was thought to be disease that came from extreme filth. Leprous people where not even allowed to walk on the same side of the street as everyone else. When they walked into towns or around other people, they had to holler out. “Unclean, Unclean”

 

Can you imagine the social stigma that these 10 men faced every day of their lives?

 

They were unable to even be around their families. They had to watch their children grow up from a distance. They lived in colonies of other leprous people. They were surrounded every day with the sickness of others and the stench of their own disease.

 

 

 

So these 10 men cry out to Jesus for their healing and He healed them, but of the 10 men who were healed, only one was truly thankful.

 

He wasn’t in a hurry to go show himself to the priest so he could be admitted back into society and his family.

 

Look at this with me…

 

15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,

16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

 

While the 9 unthankful went on their way, this one man falls on his face at the feet of Jesus and cries out with a loud voice in thanksgiving, glorifying God.

 

Jesus noticed a distinct difference between this man and the other 9.

 

17  And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?

18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.

19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

 

Jesus asks the question, “Where are the other 9?”

 

10 were cleansed, but only one is thankful. What happened to the other 9?

 

Jesus made mention of the fact that some people appreciate when something good is done to them and some don’t.

 

In fact, the percentage of unthankful people in this account of Jesus’s ministry is alarming.

 

90% of the people in this particular miracle were unthankful.

But Praise God for the 10%.

 

Thank God for the few that come back and say “Thank you”

 

If it wasn’t for them, I wonder what would happen. I wonder if churches and pastors and good people and even the Lord Himself would continue doing good to others if it weren’t for the few that do come back and say “Thank you.”

 

Every now and then someone says, “I really appreciate your help.”

 

“You have no idea how much your help means to me right now.”

 

Thankful people, what a blessing they are.

 

Look what Jesus did for the Thankful man that He didn’t do for the other 9 men who scurried off in a hurry to get about their lives.

 

19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

 

“Thy faith hath made thee whole.”

 

The man was expressing thankfulness, but Jesus accounted it to Him for Faith. That’s powerful.

 

People say all the time, “Give me more faith.” Maybe we should be more thankful?

 

As many of you know, leprosy causes the flesh to die off on its victims bodies. Literally, their fingers and toes and other extremities fall off. As well, they lose the ability to feel pain which causes them to do great harm to their bodies without even knowing it much of the time.

 

There is a difference between being healed of leprosy and being made whole as the thankful man was.

 

Many bible scholars believe that the original 9 men went away healed of leprosy, but still carrying the scars of their sickness and its devastation to their bodies.

 

On the other hand, the thankful man left that day not only healed of the terrible disease, but also “made whole.”

 

In other words, the Lord restored what the sickness stole from him.

 

This could mean even more than his body being restored to its original state, but also his relationships with other people like his family, and even his place of status within the community.

 

However you look at it, Jesus did something more for the thankful man than He did for the unthankful men.

 

Here is why our worship is so important: It is showing our thankfulness for His love for us and what He has done in our lives.

 

It brings into our lives that re-reward the Bible talks about. The extra blessing. The added bonus. The thing that not everybody else gets.

 

Why don’t you think about what you have to be thankful for today? Why not make a list of the things the Lord has brought you through and tell Him one more time; “Thank You.”

 

Why not lift our hands and yield ourselves to Him with thanksgiving today?