Gratefulness

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?

Thankfulness for the Body of Christ

/ pastorpete51 / 9 Comments 
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:12 ESV

My wife and I enjoy doing puzzles together, so I was delighted to find an almost new 1,000-piece puzzle with a Thomas Kincade painting on the box for a dollar at a yard sale. As soon as I got home, I dumped the puzzle out and eagerly began working to piece it together. Because of the complexity of the design, I didn’t at first realize, but eventually it became clear that, though my puzzle was almost new, it had been put into the wrong box! That puzzle reminds me of how in spite of God’s design, we sometimes struggle to find where we fit. In today’s verse the Apostle Paul tells us that together we are the Body of Christ and each of us is a part. Fortunately for us, God puts the correct picture on the box, (the Bible) and second, we are each intricately designed to be put into exact the position for which God designed. Paul gets very detailed about those parts, calling some of us eyes, some ears and others, hands and feet. Some of us who suffer from low self-esteem are encouraged by realizing that we too are a valuable part. However, we also need to remember that discovering our usefulness also means finding how our being connected to others gives us the opportunity to serve them. Trying to find how we fit in the church, without being thankful for people around us, is like our putting our puzzle together with the wrong picture on the box!

Though, people will usually take time to thank God for their blessings, why not go beyond just being thankful for how we have been blessed and take the time to give thanks for how God has blessed others, who He has connected to us. We just might be amazed at how being thankful, will clear our vision and help us to see them as part of the beautiful puzzle that God has designed called the Body of Christ!

"The beginning of men's rebellion against God was, and is, the lack of a thankful heart." 
Francis Shaeffer
Photo by Polina Tankilevitch on Pexels.com

Fighting Depression with Thankfulness

/ pastorpete51 / 8 Comments 
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: 
for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. Psalm 42:5 KJV

Some of my favorite memories and best life lessons come from the decades I spent working high in the treetops. This morning as I was struggling with the Winter blues and feeling overwhelmed with doubts, I remembered fighting with a heavy limb directly over my head that I was cutting while suspended sixty feet above the ground. My options were limited and the consequences of failure high, but then my foreman called up to me, “Just get mad at it Pete!” His advice got my attention just long enough so I could focus my energy on the solution and not the problem. A tree limb was not what David was struggling with in today’s verse, but his advice sounds a lot like something my old foreman would have approved of. With every reason to be afraid and a laundry list of problems facing him, David decided that the best place to begin was his own soul. He just gets mad at it! “Hope thou in God!” he cries. “Stop whining! Praising God is what your job is, so let’s get with it” (Okay maybe I stretched the Hebrew a little thin here, but you get the idea!) Sometimes we just have to read ourselves the riot act. Our soul is always looking for an easy way out of problems, but no matter our situation or how long the journey, we have to remind ourselves from time to time that God has not left the scene. He is still worthy of our praise, and able to help us. Our job is to be thankful, even if it means getting mad at the situation so we can focus again and put our trust completely in Him!

I enjoyed this recent devotional testimony from Join Eareckson Tada on how she fights off depression. Her battles are far more severe than most of us are facing and I love her idea of making a list of things to thank God for. We are all fighting the same enemy and there is nothing he hates more than hearing how great our God is. So, “Get mad at it!” if it helps. Join David in telling your soul to get with it! You just might be amazed how God will answer and come to help in ways we never dreamed!