After their first summer at Plymouth Rock in 1621, the pilgrims had a
Thanksgiving feast to celebrate their bountiful harvest and to honor God. This
tradition continues today. Thanksgiving is a time to honor God for all His
blessings in our lives.
As we gather with family and friends this week, I'm reminded of the story
of the thankful leper.
As Jesus was traveling to Jerusalem, He passed through a village where 10
lepers were. Because they were unclean, they stood away from the crowd but still
yelled to Jesus, asking Him to have mercy on them. The lepers knew who Jesus was
and that He had the power to heal them.
Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priest, the one who could
declare them healed from their disease. As they went to the priest, they were
healed.
Of the 10, only one of the men returned to thank Jesus. He came to Jesus
and bowed down to Him to show his thankfulness. Jesus asked if there were
indeed 10 who were healed and why only one returned to thank Him. Even though
many people are touched by Jesus, few give Him the thanks He deserves.
The Bible says it is good and pleasing to God to give Him thanks. In Psalm
92:1-5, David encourages us to give thanks to God. He recognized the importance
of Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is a chance to focus on God and not on ourselves. Paul tells
the Thessalonian believers that God’s will for them is to be thankful. 1
Thessalonians 5:18 says, "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of
God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
Even in simple things we should be thankful.
Don’t reserve your praise to God for only the big things in life. We need to
recognize that God has given us everything good we have in life and be thankful
to Him for it.
