As children when we were given something we were reminded, “What do you say?” We then would quickly respond, “Thank-you.” Hopefully now we say “Thank-you” without any reminders. The Holiday of Thanksgiving is a reminder of what we should be doing all year long. I confess with you that it is easy to get so busy with life that we forget to give proper recognition to our God who is the source of all our blessings. Luke Chapter 17 records the famous Bible Story of the healing of the ten lepers. Verse 16 say only one of them gave thanks for the miracle he had received.

Let’s look together at what we see about giving thanks. First, it will take time. Our initial response is that is something I am very short of. Verse 15 admonishes us to notice that the one leper turned back. It was an inconvenience to retrack his steps, but he saw the importance of it.

There are many things in life that can distract us from what we should do, but this leper declares to not let those things stop us from doing what is right. He could have reasoned that he needed to hurry to get to the Priest to be declared clean. He was wise to see the priority is to first go to the One that provided for him.

Second, verse 18 reminds us that it touches the Lord. The Bible says in Psalm 22:3 that our God lives in the praises of His people. The thankful leper definitely got the attention of Jesus.

Third, verse 19 ends the account by showing thankfulness is helpful for us. Jesus declared him to be whole. Many commentaries mention that Jesus was referring to a spiritual healing to go along with his physical healing.

The ten men had so much to be thankful about. Their lives had been greatly blessed. They could spend time with family, work a job, and do those things they had missed out on for so many years. We too have much to be thankful for. Let’s make sure we are doing what we are supposed to do. Just as we did as children, let’s say “Thank-you.”

GMH Staff portraits, Ron Swigart
https://www.beavercreeknewscurrent.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/49/2018/12/web1_SwigerR.jpgGMH Staff portraits, Ron Swigart

By Pastor Ron Swiger

Pastor Ron Swiger is the Greene Memorial Hospital Chaplain and guest columnist.