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The Thankful Heart
Happy Thanksgiving!
We have gathered together this morning with a thankful heart for all the blessings God has bestowed upon us. We thank God for the family, friends, and the church. We thank God for providing what we need and more. We thank God for giving us peace and joy. We thank God for the wonderful life. There are so many things we are thankful for.
The other day, I went to London for the induction of the Rev. Son. On the way to London, we saw leaves changing their colour. We thank God for the beautiful nature we enjoy. We should take care of our natural environment.
More than anything else, we thank God FOR THE THANKFUL HEART we can have. The heart to be thankful – It is hard to have. Without a thankful heart, we cannot enjoy what we have. True joy comes not when you have the abundance but when you recognize your abundance. When you know how to appreciate the abundance you have, you will have the deep joy. True joy comes not when we are healthy but when we are able to appreciate the health we have.
The True Blessing
The true blessing is not the blessings themselves but when your eyes are open and recognize how blessed your life is. When you recognize that your life is a gift of God, that’s when your blessings become true blessings. The power of salvation is released and can change you not when you have the salvation but when you deeply recognize the salvation you received. That is when your salvation is complete. If you take your salvation for granted, you won’t experience the power of salvation.
In that sense, thankfulness completes everything. Thankfulness completes our joy. Thankfulness completes the blessings. Thankfulness completes the salvation we have. Thankfulness completes our life.
The Mercy of God
Only one person knew this secret in the passage we read today. He was a Samaritan. He was treated as the lowest of the lowest. Not only was he a leper but he was also a Samaritan who was despised at that time. 10 lepers were all healed by the mercy of Jesus. They all asked for Jesus’ mercy and they got it.
Jesus, Master, have mercy on us! (Luke 17:13
They cried out for mercy and they got it!
God’s mercy has no discrimination. God grants his mercy to all those who ask for it.
This is what Jesus said.
…for he (God) makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:45)
10 lepers, they all received the mercy of God. We don’t know what kind of people they were. We don’t know whether they were good or not. They all received the mercy from God regardless of who they were. But only one of them returned to Jesus to thank him.
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. (Luke 17:15, 16)
They were all healed but only one of them knew how to appreciate the healing he received. Not only was he blessed with healing but he was blessed to recognize that everything good comes from God. That gave him the everlasting joy and peace. He not only experienced the power of mercy at that moment but he experienced the goodness of God. That’s why he praised God with a loud voice.
He had more than healing. He experienced more than healing. He discovered God’s mercy and the goodness of God. Now he could live his life with this thankfulness. He received the thankful heart. Now he knew that there would be God’s mercy in all circumstances. That was greater than the healing he received.
That’s why Jesus said this to him.
Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well. (Luke 17:19)
That is a strange expression. He was already made well. But Jesus said his faith had made him well. So, he was not just talking about the healing from leprosy he received. He meant his faith had made his whole life well.
His thankfulness completed his healing. His thankfulness completed his salvation. That’s what thankfulness does. It completes everything. It completes joy. It completes blessings. It completes salvation.
Faith
This thankfulness comes from faith. Jesus said to him that HIS FAITH had made him well. Jesus saw his faith. Because of his faith, he returned to Jesus and thanked him. Because of his faith, he praised God.
He had faith that everything good comes from God. Yes, everything good comes from God. I pray that you all live with this faith. Even when you are struggling with your darkness, I hope that you have this faith. This faith will bring you out of your darkness and lead you into the light. Even when you are sick, I hope that you have this faith. This faith will bring you out of your sickness and lead you into healing.
When we have faith that everything good comes from God, then we can be thankful in all circumstances. That was what St. Paul taught us to do.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
We give thanks in all circumstances because in all circumstances, God is good.
This faith is not what you feel. This faith is what you hold unto. In bad circumstances, you cannot have good feeling. But even in bad circumstances, you can hold unto this faith. This faith is the power to overcome all your circumstances.
Thanksgiving
When you have the faith which has the power to overcome all your circumstances, then you can be thankful in all circumstances. We should have this power, while living in this world. We need this power. Life is not easy. It can be difficult. If we are not careful, we can be quite damaged. We can become quite fearful, unhappy, cynical, and critical. We need power to overcome all our circumstances. That power comes from our faith that everything good comes from God.
God will complete everything in your life. Be thankful and wait and see how God completes everything in your life. In God’s time, he will make everything beautiful. That’s what we believe. That’s why we are thankful today.
We are thankful on a rainy day, because God will bring sunshine in his time. We are thankful on a stormy day, because God will bring the calm. We are thankful on a sad day, because God will bring laughter.
We are thankful in a precarious time, because God will be with us and protect us. Let us live with thankful heart.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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