The second level of gratitude

Dr Nick Ohizu The Voice of God

This week we will focus on the second level of gratitude: Thanking God for what he is doing.

The first level focuses on what God has done in the past, the second level focuses on the present.

Gratitude in the present is found in the lives of people who acknowledge what God is doing and pledge allegiance and worship.

Many people acknowledge what God has done in the past, but allow the wind of God’s blessing to shake the foundation of their faith like the prodigal son.

They appreciate what God has done but are not willing to continue in their relationship with him.

Moreover, the level of gratitude we are dealing with today is expressed by people who acknowledge the goodness of God in their lives for giving them much more that they deserved.

This level of gratitude cements the blessings of God in our lives because it is expressed by people with total dependency on God as their source.

This kind of gratitude is revealed in the following story.

“Now it happened as he went to Jerusalem that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as he entered a certain village, there met him 10 men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”; So, when he saw them, he said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks.

And he was a Samaritan. So, Jesus answered and said, “Were there not 10 cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”; And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.” [Luke 17:11-19, NKJV].”

Failing to thank God for what he is doing starts when we become too big to come back and too proud to fall down before him in worship.

We become convinced that we deserve what we received.

Revelations from our text proves otherwise:

1. Jesus chose to pass through. Samaria was not his destination and there were many other routes Jesus could have chosen. Jesus already knew that there were 10 lepers that needed healing and chose to pass through their town thereby making the healing power accessible to these lepers who would never have such access.
2. They were Samaritans. According to the ancient laws of Judaism, it was an abomination for a Jew to have anything to do with a Samaritan. Jesus in his infinite mercy broke such rules when he met the Samaritan woman at the well [John 4] and when he met the lepers.

The limitation and boundaries set by their ethnic background made it difficult for them to access the healing power resident in a Jewish saviour. Jesus broke down that wall of separation and presented them with the opportunity to be healed.

3. They were lepers. In the same manner, the life of a leper was a life of isolation even up till now. The medical limitation presented by the contagious nature of their disease is the reason they were standing afar. However, the Jewish law permitted the priest to approach and examine a leper without being infected based on the anointing of God resident on the priest. Jesus being a priest approached and sent them to their regional priest for inspection because only a priest is authorised to declare a leprous person cleansed.

Scripturally proven, the only contribution made by these lepers was calling out on Jesus to have mercy on them. Mercy can be defined as leniency and compassion shown toward offenders by a person or agency charged with administering justice.

Them asking for mercy is a sign that they acknowledged their deficiencies and only Jesus had the overall authority and jurisdiction to show compassion and leniency on them by reversing their sentence to a life time of a deplorable disease. Jesus indeed showed mercy but the weakness of humanity stepped in immediately.

This weakness was able to overcome nine of them and only one realised that they did not deserve what Jesus had done for them.

This is a concurrent problem still persisting among us. A lot of people develop an entitlement syndrome when they finally get a blessing from God.

Pastoring for the past 20 years has given me the opportunity to witness the ingratitude of some people at an astronomical level.

We need to remember that whatsoever God has done for us is not our right but a product of His mercy. We are alive not because we are better but God’s mercy saves us from near death experiences.

The two classes of people depicted in this story are part of our everyday reality challenging the narratives of our gratitude levels.

Have you gone back to say thank you? Whether to God or the people He used to bless you. The nine that never went back thought they had it all but all they had was a cleansing.

They still had to go and show themselves to the priest who may declare or not declare them cleansed.

You can predict what you think may have happened since Jesus was so offended about their ingratitude that he vocalised it contrary to his nature.

Being made whole meant that every part of the body lost to leprosy was restored by the power of God. It was the one that went back to say thank you that received wholeness not the nine. You can be anything you want to be in this world but please do not be ungrateful.

Dr Nick Ohizu is the senior pastor of the Empowerment Ministries and the president of the Empowerment School of Wealth both located in Graniteside Harare. He is a successful entrepreneur with vast experience in leadership, mentorship, business and marriage consultancy with a mandate from God to change lives and bless people. Feedback: 0772304917.