A new book that came out this month is threatening to be the next self-help superstar. The book is entitled Thank You Power and argues that the secret to life, the secret to success and blessing, is saying “thank you.” In the book we are told that by focusing on the things that are going well and being thankful about them, we will begin to see life as a more positive experience and by seeing the world as more positive, we will find more to enjoy and therefore be thankful for.
Now, I am usually fairly critical of the self-help craze and every scheme that someone comes up with that ensures good living. Self-help books have come and gone and this one is just going to be one in a long line of books designed to help people have more positive thinking.
But looking at the theme of the book and some of the basic things it says and realizing that I have not read it, only read about it, I find the truth here to be an important one, though it is definitely not a new one. You see, the concept of being thankful for what you have is a concept that goes way back throughout the history of the world. And it is an important part of the Christian faith.
Now you may wonder what makes being thankful an important part of being a Christian. If I asked a large group of Christians what it meant to be a Christian, I am sure that none of them would put being thankful up on the top of the list of things that show that someone is a Christian. Actually, Christians often have the stereotype of not being very thankful. But it is central to our faith and our belief that we live lives of thanksgiving. When we realize that life is a gift from God we then realize that we do truly have much to be thankful for. And even when things don’t seem to be going as well as we’d like, there is still much to be thankful for. So, today we are going to give thanks to God, for he has done marvelous things and is worthy to be praised.
Let us open in prayer
I. Healing
We all know that Jesus heals throughout the gospels. He sees people in need and he reaches out to them with his healing hands. When people ask for help, he offers it. Jesus shows us God’s love again and again throughout his ministry by touching someone’s life with healing where they need it most. I believe that this doesn’t end at the end of the gospels, but rather it continues to present day. I believe that Jesus is still in the business of healing people. But, I’m not sure that Jesus is quite as obvious about healing as he was when he walked the earth.
Actually, I need to take that back. Jesus never made a big deal about healing people. Often, as he healed people, he told them not to tell anyone what had happened to them. He tried, back when he was walking on the earth, to keep his healing quiet, and I believe that the same is true today. Though Jesus reached out in love and compassion towards people in need, he didn’t want healing to be the center of his ministry. He had something more important to bring the world. And so Jesus did heal, but he kept it quiet and he focused more on his teachings than on his healings. He actually got upset with people when they focused too much on the signs and wonders he did, he would much rather have them focus on his words. And yet he continued to do signs and wonders and he continued to heal throughout his ministry and life, and I believe, ever since.
I also believe that the healings that Jesus does today aren’t always the way that people expect to be healed. Sometimes Jesus reaches out his healing hand and heals broken relationships or brings peace to people in times of crisis. Healing doesn’t necessarily have to be physical to be healing.
The scripture we read today is one of many stories about healing. It is a story about Jesus reaching out in compassion to a group of men who were suffering from leprosy. They cried out for him to heal them and he did. Often this is where the stories of Jesus’ healings ended. Jesus healed people and then went on his way. But this time someone does something unusual. One of the men who was healed came back to Jesus. This man came back to Jesus and thanked him. We are told that when he saw that he was healed, he came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.
We are also told that this man was a Samaritan, someone who the Jews of Jesus’ day did not get along with and whom they did not think much of. For a Samaritan to do something right was unusual to say the least. But this Samaritan did something right. He came to Jesus and thanked him for healing him.
II. A Thankless Society
It seems like such a minor thing, coming back to Jesus and saying “thank you.” It seems so minor that only one of the ten people Jesus healed felt the need to do it. Were the others grateful? I’m sure they were. But they didn’t think to come back and show their gratitude to Jesus. Instead they got caught up in the excitement of their newfound health and focused on that. They had just been healed, they needed to share this with friends and family; they needed to get on with the life that Leprosy had taken from them. And in the process they forgot to thank Jesus for what he had done for them.
I truly believe that this is a central part of the problem that faces our society today. We are too busy working for what we want and then enjoying it all so much that we forget to thank God for all that we have. I remember when I was ten I traveled with my parents to the South Pacific. We spent some time on the Island Kingdom of Tonga. We had the opportunity to worship with the people of Tonga and we went home with a man and visited his house. I was shocked by the house that he and his family lived in. It was a one room hut with some rolled up mats for the floor. That was everything they owned. It was everything they had. And the people of Tonga had a joy about them, a thankful, grateful spirit that I have never seen in America. Whereas here in America people continue to complain about the problems in the world and long for more than they currently have, and as they complain and grumble they miss out on the many things that God has gifted them with. The people of Tonga know that they have much to be thankful for because they rely on God to meet their daily needs and give them their daily bread. And when the daily bread was more than they expected, they would feast and celebrate. And when it was less than they needed they would pray and ask God to step in with more.
I wonder if this sounds familiar to you. This way of life is what God prescribed for the people of Israel as they wandered through the wilderness, learning to rely on God for their needs, and sometimes finding joy in the small gifts that God gave them.
But we rely not on God but on ourselves. We convince ourselves that we are the ones responsible for the good things that happen to us as well as the bad things that happen to us. And so when someone is down on their luck, we say that it is their own fault and when someone is truly blessed, we credit it to them. But the truth is that we are less masters of this world than we’d like to believe. And when we realize that by giving thanks we will break through this and begin to see that God is a good and gracious master, the King of Love, the Gifting Giver.
III. Thank You
But what does this saying “thank you” look like? How can we practice it? The author of the book, Thank You Power says that she had a notebook which she takes around with her everywhere she goes and she writes down three or four things each day that she is thankful for. This actually is a good start. But it is only a start.
Do you spend much time in your prayer life saying “thank you” or do you just get to the things that you want from God? Do you remember that life and love and relationships are a blessing from God and therefore thank him for them? I believe that one small step to healthier families, healthier relationships, healthier marriages, is remembering that they are a gift from God and thanking God for our loved ones. When you begin thanking God for those around you, you will discover that your attitude will change toward them and you will begin to see the blessing that they are instead of all the troubles they bring.
The same, I believe, can be true about our work. No job is wonderful all the time. All jobs have their ups and downs. But when we thank God for our work, and the way that he has blessed us, we remember the good things in our job and it makes the bad just that much more bearable.
With thankful hearts we discover that God is at work in the world around us. He is continuing to heal. He is continuing to make a difference. And when we focus on thanking him for these things, when we live lives of gratitude, we will find that we will enjoy life all the more. We will also find that our relationship with God will grow.
Jesus healed ten men of leprosy that day. They all had an amazing miracle in their lives that Jesus brought to them. But only one of them really connected with Jesus in relationship. And that is the one who came back to say thank you. That man, a Samaritan, was able to connect in relationship with Jesus in a wonderful way. And in the end, that is what saying “thank you” really does for us. Yes it helps adjust our attitude so we might not be as cynical and troubled about the world around us. But more importantly, it connects us to God, to Jesus in a powerful way. It deepens our relationship with God by giving us an opportunity to communicate with him. It reminds us of who it is that is responsible for all we have and all we are.
So I encourage you today to give it a try. Try remembering who it is who is responsible for the good in your life. Try going before him and saying “thank you.” You will be blessed through this and your relationship with God will grow through this.
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