Developing A Thankful Heart
January 17, 2018·Elizabeth Ewens
When I first started out in ministry, over 40 years ago, I experienced a season when I had almost nothing. I had no ministry position, no prospects, no income, and wondered, why? Why had God allowed this, when I thought I was doing what He called me to do? It was during that season that I realized how much God loves me, is always with me and will never leave me. That season helped me to develop a thankful heart. It taught me to be thankful and appreciative of every gift, every blessing and every friendship.
When I read the encounter of the ten lepers that Jesus healed, I wonder what the nine lepers were thinking. Here’s the story in Luke 17:11-19:
Now on His way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As He was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met Him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” When He saw them, He said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then He said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
I don’t know why the nine Jewish men didn’t find Jesus to thank Him, once they realized they were healed. But the Samaritan did. I can imagine that he knew he didn’t deserve to be healed by Jesus, which made him all the more thankful. And he experienced that second encounter with Jesus because he was thankful.
Not everything in life makes it easy to have a thankful heart. Sometimes hard things happen to us, and we have a difficult time being thankful, like eight-year-old Robert. It was several years ago when Robert’s grandmother asked me to meet with her and Robert, because he was very angry. Robert’s anger was causing him to act out at school, and he had been suspended for a day. I knew who he was because he had acted out in Sunday School, and the leaders weren’t sure what to do.
Robert’s story broke my heart. At six years of age, Robert’s father killed his mother, so Robert suddenly had no family since he was an only child. Robert’s grandmother traveled to the country where Robert was and brought him back to live with her in Van Nuys. He didn’t speak the language, he had no friends, and no mom or dad. He had learned English quickly, since his arrival, so we looked at the verse about being angry, but not sinning. Robert had a good reason to be angry, so we talked about how he could express his anger, but not sin. Before he left, I gave him an assignment; he was to write down five things he was thankful for and bring me the list on Sunday. That next Sunday, I looked for him and reviewed his list with him. And the next Sunday, and the Sunday after that. I watched this little guy become a happy young man, as he allowed Jesus to give him a thankful heart, to acknowledge the blessings in his life and not just focus on the tragedy of what happened.
I still have that first list of blessings that Robert wrote. Whenever I run across it, I smile and thank God for helping Robert and me to have thankful hearts, like the Samaritan.
Pastor Elizabeth Ewens
