An Attitude of Gratitude

In Luke 17 10 lepers came to Jesus and asked him to heal them. He told them to go to the temple and present themselves to the priests and Luke says that as they went they were made clean. After they presented themselves to the priest and got the official OK that their skin disease was gone they all went on their way except for one who went back to Jesus to say “thank you.” Jesus wondered aloud where the other 9 had gone and why they didn’t come back to do the same and then he told the 1 leper who did that his faith had made him well.

The phrase “your faith has made you well” can also be translated out of the Greek to “your faith has saved you” and so these words from Jesus about being made well likely aren’t pointing to the leper being made well of his leprosy as much as they’re pointing to the leper being made well of something deeper and more internal or spiritual.

Hm.

Perhaps being healed on the outside is one thing, but being healed on the inside is another? Perhaps being healed of a skin condition is one thing, but being healed of a heart or spiritual condition is another?

Right?

Like, perhaps what made the leper well on the outside was the power of Christ, but what made the leper well on the inside was the power of gratitude. And maybe Christ did for him on the outside what only he could do for himself on the inside because although Christ did whatever Christ did to make the leprosy go away, the leper took it upon himself to go back to Christ, find him, and express his gratitude … causing some sort of internal shift or change or newness.

Friends - there are some things in your life today that only God can do, but there is one thing that is in your control: your level of gratitude.

May we walk through our day today with an attitude of gratitude, being mindful of the many reasons we have to offer up a thank you to the Spirit who is with us always.

Much love to you,

Glenn