Call to pause, Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays! Besides the yummy food, desserts, beautifully set tables and wild and fun games played at family gatherings, OH and FOOTBALL! I so appreciate the call to pause. Pause and reflect. Reflect on the goodness of God. There is ALWAYS something to be thankful for.
The Psalmist penned so eloquently, “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High” Ps 92:1
Paul wrote while under Roman guard, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” – Phil 4:6 (emphasis mine) He continues with his directness about our approach to God and God stuff, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” – 1 Thess 5:16-18
There is yet another portion of scripture that speaks loudly to thanksgiving, but I doubt we will ever see its words printed in gold leaf across a Hallmark card, though worthy of even more.
We turn to Luke chapter 17, verses 11-19. In short, Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem, ten men with leprosy call out, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” The narrative says Jesus saw them, healing them, tells them “go show yourselves to the priest.” They all left, never to be seen again.
But ONE. One came back, throwing himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him for his healing. Verses 15,16 “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God . He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him…” He wasnt quiet about it./>
Jesus’ response, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? WOW! OH, that I would be so very careful to pause, come and throw myself at Jesus’ feet … always. I have made so many stupid mistakes, wandered here and there. But Jesus is always there! There for me to throw myself at His feet. THANKSGIVING!
Jesus tells the ‘one’ who thanked Him, ‘arise, go – your faith has made you whole.’ This ‘whole’ is sozo (in the Greek) – meaning not ONLY a physical healing, but conveying protection, to heal both physically and spiritually, to bring safely through, to justify. The opposite of this you ask? To BANISH! In addition, making this SO amazing, this one man was a Samaritan. The Samaritans were treated rather discriminatingly, they were considered ‘half breeds’ and not really worthy of folks’ time. Now a Jew, a Jewish LORD has not banished him, but healed him. He KNEW! He thanked!
Principle we pull forward? Thanksgiving will lead us to wholeness! Jesus wants us to pause, take notice, come back and thank Him. Have some of us ran off with no hesitation, or are we so busy that we fail to take notice of His goodness. Or do some of us need to pause and come back, back to the feet of Jesus. Be the one!
Call to pause, thanksgiving. “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD.”
Inspired Fountain 
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