giving thanks

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Please be praying for the Thanksgiving dinner at church tomorrow, that God would be glorified in all that happens and that people would be drawn closer to Him. And everybody who'll be there, know you're being prayed for!

This week, in between wrapping up school and fighting with turkeys on the frozen food aisle, I've been thinking about the importance of giving thanks. It makes me think about the story of Jesus and the ten lepers in Luke 17:

11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.”

And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.

15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, 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 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

It seems like a lot of times I mean to say "thank you" to God or to give Him the glory for something He's done, but not so often that I actually do it. Even when I do these things in private prayer, how often do I verbally give God the glory in front of other people?

In the past couple of months I've been very encouraged by hearing Christian brothers and sisters at church directly giving glory to God for things that He's accomplished in their lives. When we step out in obedience and give Him the glory, we really don't know what He plans to work out through that. Many times I think He works it out for the encouragement of others in ways we would never understand.

Let's not be like the nine lepers who never came back to Jesus, so that He will not look at us and ask, "were there not any found who returned to give glory to God?"