Thankfulness
And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. (Luke 17:15-16)
I remember as a young Christian reading George Whitefield’s Journals. He was an Anglican who became one of the key figures of the Methodist movement and a remarkable evangelist. God used him extensively here and in the United States. Whitfield wrote that, whenever he returned to Oxford University, he would run to the field where he had knelt before God and opened his heart to Christ. In that field he would pour out his heart in thankfulness to God for his salvation.
You can understand the ten lepers being overcome by joy at their miraculous healing. But only one turned back to praise God and to fall at the feet of the Lord Jesus to say thank you. It made the Lord sad that the nine forgot to thank God, but He was thankful the Samaritan had not.
Ingratitude should never mark the people of God. Paul always expresses thankfulness as he writes to the early Christians. He lifts his heart in constant gratitude to God for the Ephesian church (Ephesians 1:16). Paul expresses thankfulness to the Philippians for their help and support when in distress, and when other churches did not help him (Philippians 4:14-15). And he encourages the Colossian believers to be characterised by a spirit of thankfulness, “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful” (Colossians 3:15). Luke records, after being shipwrecked with Paul, the unusual kindness of the people of Malta towards them in Acts 28:1-2.
But above all it is the example of the thankfulness of the Lord Jesus which touches our hearts. He rejoiced in the Spirit and thanked His Father for revealing His truths to the disciples (Luke 10:21). John records the Lord giving thanks for the five barley loaves and two small fish in John 6:11 and refers to it again in verse 23. At the grave of Lazarus, Jesus lifts His eyes to heaven to thank the Father (John 11:41). And we see the thankfulness of the Lord powerfully expressed on the Passover night and at the institution of the Lord’s supper (Luke 22:19). The Lord Jesus’ thankfulness relates to our spiritual blessing, our daily food, our new life, and our response of remembrance and worship. It is humbling to think of the Lord of Glory and the Lord of All expressing thankfulness. What a joy it must have been to His heart when the healed Samaritan fell at His feet to say thank you!
I regret as a young man not expressing as I should have my thanks to the many saints who were so kind to me. As I have grown older, I look back with appreciation to God for the countless times His people displayed His goodness and for His provision every day of my life. And I try to take the opportunity where I can to remember with thankfulness what I took for granted in the past.
It is good to give thanks to the Lord, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night. (Psalm 92:1-2)
