Giving thanks

Another Good Samaritan

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments 
And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, 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 27:15-16 ESV

With hospitals, charities and even news stories named after him, It doesn’t take a theologian to tell you about the “Good Samaritan.” But did you know there was another “Good Samaritan” we don’t hear much about. Like his better-known countryman, he did something good that others had decided not to. This man had a life destroying problem named leprosy, that forced him into quarantine outside of his village, where he lived with nine other lepers. Lepers were considered unclean, and in this man’s case doubly so because he was a Samaritan. As a Samaritan, he couldn’t live in the same neighborhood, worship in the same building or even drink from the same cup as Jews. Yet in spite of everything stacked against him, he along with his friends, cried out to Jesus for mercy. I will bet that they could hardly believe their ears when Jesus told them that all they had to do to be healed was to go to the priest. Understandably all of them (probably with a hoot and a holler) hightailed it towards town!

But halfway to the priest, this “Good Samaritan”, overwhelmed with gratitude, turned back to tell Jesus thank you. Though everyone else kept running towards the priest’s house, the Samaritan went back, and, like the wise men before him, he fell at Jesus’ feet to worship Him. So, I ask myself, when was the last time I, went to Jesus to give Him thanks for all He has done? When was the last time I fell at His feet to worship Him?

Stopping in our Tracks

/ pastorpete51 / 9 Comments 
 And he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.  Luke 17:16 ESV

On our recent trip, one morning, I noticed that, instead of being thankful, I was doing a lot of complaining. My bed was too hard, (but it was clean): the air conditioner was too loud (But it worked well), the breakfast served at the hotel was skimpy, (But someone had come in at 5 AM to prepare it for me). I asked God to forgive my ungrateful attitude and began recalling the many times when Jesus gave thanks. He thanked God, for the five loaves and two fish, before they were multiplied. He thanked God for always hearing His prayers before Lazarus was raised from the dead. Even on, “The night when He was betrayed,” Jesus took bread and gave thanks. So ashamed of my own petty griping, I wondered how I could become grateful like Him. But as asked for forgiveness, God began to show me that “Giving thanks” was not something He was asking me to feel, rather it was an action that He expected me to do.

God wants us to have the thankfulness of the man in today’s verse. This guy was nobody special. He was simply just one of ten lepers, who came to Jesus for healing. All ten of them looked to God for help. All of them, prayed, asking for mercy, all of them obeyed what Jesus told them to do, and all of them were joyful when they saw that they had been healed. But the Samaritan was unique because he stopped in his tracks and returned to give thanks. If we are to learn gratitude, we need to do the same. Instead of trying hard to work up a grateful feeling, we need to just stop in the tracks of our fussing and moaning, come back to Jesus, and simply give Him thanks!

Partnership

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

A Gospel Partnership

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. Philippians 1:3-5 ESV

When I think of people who have helped to shape history of the Christian church, the Apostle Paul comes right to the top of my list. But in first century Macedonia, no one had ever heard of Paul or for that matter of Christianity. On his first visit there, Paul went in response to a dream the Holy Spirit sent him while he and Silas were in Asia Minor. Though Paul did not question the dream’s origin, he had a difficult time letting go of the successful ministry they were having there in the region which now is modern day Turkey. Yet, in obedience to God’s call, Paul and Silas boarded a ship to make the crossing and once ashore headed directly for Phillipi. Maybe at first, Paul wondered why God had called him there. They found just a tiny group meeting for prayer at the riverbank in place of the meeting places overflowing with crowds that they had seen in Ephesus. Yet, from those humble beginnings, Paul discovered something new: that was partnership. He found in these humble friends, people who did not just come to see miracles, or to gain some spiritual gift. Instead, this small group was moved by Paul’s Gospel message and stayed to become his lifelong friends. Later as Paul went on his missionary journeys and later to prison in Rome, they sent people to help him and out of their meager resources sent offerings to him from that day until the end of his life.

Like those friends of Paul, you and I might not be gifted speakers or influential leaders in our church, but we can partner with others in the work which God has called them to do. We can pray for the situations they are facing, go out to serve side by side, or give financially. Though what we can do or how much we can give may not be a lot, what we can do matters to Jesus. Remember that five loaves of bread in His hands can supply more in the work of the gospel than a year’s wages in the hands of the world!