Luke 17: 11-19
A while back I received two checks:
- One was payment for a class I had taught.
- And the other an unasked-for…unanticipated gift from a relative.
I generally support the expression:
- “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”
- Paul even said that: “we should carry our own load” (Galatians 6).
- But this was one of those moments of exception when I sat with an earned meal on one knee…
- And a delicious…surprising gift on the other.
- For which do you suppose I was the more grateful?
It is easy to take a lot for granted.
- Including good luck and unexpected gifts…in this life.
- Indeed…in this secular age…
- We are encouraged to think in terms of luck.
- As if good fortune has no more meaning than a roll of the dice.
- Or as they say: “when I hit the lottery.”
We imagine everything to be a matter of mere accident or chance.
- Assuming that good luck and bad luck are equal…
- That they balance out and add up to zero or nothing.
This attitude easily leads to the philosophy of despair called nihilism…
- Derived from nihil…
- The Latin word for “nothing”.
- When it is brought to its logical conclusion…
- Nihilism ultimately holds that there is nothing of any worth.
Yet there is another way to look at good luck and unexpected gifts.
- This theory posits an extraordinary giver…God.
- Who likes to give gifts to human creatures because he loves us.
- For this charitable pattern of gift-giving we have a name: Grace.
- If something is earned it is not a true gift.
- Grace…however…is unearned.
- It is free…it is gratis.
- The words grace…gratis…and gratitude flow into one another.
- If you perceive grace…you will naturally feel grateful.
In my experience…the ability to appreciate pleasant surprises as gifts tends to be good for one’s mental health.
- Those who perceive grace in the world are more likely to be grateful than those who do not.
- And grateful people are more likely to be happy…joy-filled…thankful!
- Feeling given to by the world…
- They feel eager to give back to the world.
Why do some people have such obviously grateful hearts while others have distinctly ungrateful ones?
- And why do still others fall in between?
- Seeming relatively bland in both their gratitude and their resentment?
- I don’t know.
It would be simple to believe that children from nurturing homes will automatically grow up to be grateful adults.
- And that deprived homes regularly turn out malcontents.
The problem is there is not much evidence to support this.
- Exceptions are many.
- I have known many who were raised amid neglect…poverty…and even brutality who seemed to quite naturally live their adult lives praising the Lord.
- Or at least praising life itself.
- Conversely…I’ve known those from homes of love and comfort who seemed born ingrates.
- A grateful heart is a mysterious thing.
So…an “attitude of gratitude” and an attitude of thanksgiving may not entirely be a matter of choice.
- Indeed…a grateful heart is itself a gift.
- In other words…the capacity to appreciate gifts is a gift.
- A thankful heart is a gift.
It is also the greatest blessing a human being may possess other than a strong will.
- But that doesn’t mean that a grateful heart cannot be nurtured by choice.
- Moses says “Choose life” in Deuteronomy 30:19.
Indeed…how one responds to adversity and good or bad luck may be one of the truest measures of our ability to grow into gratefulness and thanksgiving.
- We can look at some bad luck as a blessing in disguise.
- We can also maintain a sense of humility and not take good luck for granted.
Do we complain about how bad the weather is most of the time?
- Or can we learn to appreciate the beauty and diversity of weather as a gift to us?
- If we are stuck in a traffic jam on a dreary…rainy day…
- Do we sit and stew…even want to chew out the drivers around of us?
- Or do we concentrate on the fact that we are blessed to have a car amid a rainstorm?
- Are we inclined to complain about our jobs rather than work on ways to improve our skills?
If you woke up this morning and were able to hear the birds sing…
- Use your vocal cords to utter human sounds…
- Walk to the breakfast table on two good legs…
- And read the newspaper with two good eyes…
- You are more blessed than millions of those who could not do these simple things.
If you have never experienced the danger of battle…
- The loneliness of imprisonment…
- The agony of torture…
- Or the pangs of starvation…
- You are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
If you can attend a church service without fear of harassment…
- Arrest…
- Torture…
- Or death…
- You are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
If you have food in the refrigerator…
- Clothes on your back…
- A roof overhead and a place to sleep.
- You are richer than 75% of the people in this world.
If you have money in the bank…
- In your wallet.
- And spare change in a dish some place.
- You are among the top 8% of the worlds wealthy.
If you are over thirty and either of your parents is still alive you are very rare.
- Over a billion people are orphans by then.
Then one of them…when he saw that he was healed…turned back…praising God with a loud voice.
- He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.
- And he was a Samaritan.
- Then Jesus asked: “Were not ten made clean?
- But the other nine…where are they?
If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful…
- You are blessed because the majority can…
- But most do not.
- Giving thanks reminds us how blessed we are!