Bless the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases. – Psalm 103:2-3

Cambridge dictionary defines gratitude as a strong feeling of appreciation to someone or something for what the person has done to help you. It is a valuable principle that enhances relationships and puts both giver and receiver in a good light. Key to our relationship with God and men is the attitude of gratitude. The Bible encourages us to be people of gratitude – giving thanks to God at all times and in all circumstances. “Always give thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” – Esphesians 5:20.

In Luke 17, we read about ten lepers who approached Jesus and cried out with 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 whole.”

Following the curing of the 10 lepers, I want us to focus on the one leper, who is the only one to turn back to exalt God by bowing down at Jesus’ feet in gratitude, and we learn that even he is a Samaritan. In the days of Jesus, Samaritans were the ugly outsiders who were not regarded as part of the covenant. And yet it is the outsider who came back to give thanks – echoing a great sense of entitlement on the part of the remaining nine and reflecting the culture of ingratitude in the church today.

Jesus’s remark “Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” was an expression of disappointment at the other nine, most of whom were Israelites. This is not because he was counting on it or anything besides that, it was because although they were healed from leprosy, they had not been made whole. Gratitude was the key to open that door, as seen in verse 19, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you whole.”

All of us should follow the example set by this Samaritan, I would say. In order to show our gratitude and respect for God’s name, we must return to Him once He grants us the breakthrough we have been praying for. In the words of the late American Pastor, Aiden Wilson Tozer, – “Gratitude is an offering precious in the sight of God, and it is one that the poorest of us can make and be not poorer but richer for having made it.”