Luke tells us that Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem going through Samaria.  While there he was stopped by ten men who were lepers.  They said, "Jesus, master, have mercy on us."  Jesus responded by saying, "Go show yourselves to the priest."  They did as they were told and were healed.

One man when he realized that he was healed returned and praised the Lord in a loud voice and fell at His feet and thanked Him.

Jesus said, "Were there not ten?  Where are the nine?"  --There is no reason as to why they didn't return.  We have to wonder why ourselves, as those men had a disease that meant sure death --a lingering, suffering death.

However, as we often do for ourselves when we fail to do what we should do, we find an excuse.  Perhaps we can justify their actions.  Since they were outcasts from society and separated from everyone including their loved ones, it could be that they just had a great desire to go home to their wives and children, to love them and continue life in a normal way.  Or, since they had watched their bodies devastated by this terrible disease and had to go say to everyone, "I'm unclean, unclean!  Stay away lest you become afflicted as I am!" --now they are clean, they are normal as everyone else is, maybe they were so happy they just wanted everyone to see them and and to say, "Look, look, I am well!  Healed!  Now I am just like you  Now I should be accepted again!  I am well!  I am not a leper!"  Sounds reasonable.  Sure, either reason is justifiable.

However, the truth of the matter is that they received healing from the Lord and just went on their way not even thinking about being thankful.

This one man who did return was a Samaritan.  He represent 10% of the group, just 10%.  I wonder if today that percentage has changed.  Do we recognize the blessings that we daily receive from the Lord?  If so, do we stop an activity long enough to praise Him for His goodness?  Are we part of the 10%, or are we part of the 90% who showed no gratitude?  Do we receive from the Lord so much that we take it for granted, never taking the time to say thank you to our Lord?

In the Old Testament, Jacob says that he was not worthy of the least of the mercies that God has showed unto Him.  He was saying in effect that when he started out, he had absolutely nothing.  He said that when he left his father Isaac's house and traveled to his Uncle Labon's house in Mesopotamia, he crossed the Jordan with only his shepherd's staff.  But now he had two bands.  God had richly blessed him.  He had a great family.  He had great flocks and great herds.  He admitted that he was very undeserving.

My friends, how about us?  Can you remember when you started out in life's adventure?  What did you have?  What do you have now?  What are the things that are dearest to you?  Where did they come from?  If we are honest, we will say that God has been so good to us.  He has made it possible for us to have much more than we deserve.

What did Jacob ask for anyway?  In the 28th chapter of Genesis verses 20-21, we have the answer.  You might say that he asked for four things.  You could say that two are physical and two are spiritual.  The physical were, first, bread to eat and, second, raiment or clothes to wear.  The spiritual were "Be with me" and "Keep me in the way that I go and return me to my father's house in peace."  He was not asking God for much.  God had already provided three of the four things that he asked for.  Certainly he had plenty to eat and clothes to wear, and God had been with him and kept him.  One one thing more did he worry about --he wanted to go home.  He realized that Esau his brother was waiting for him and vowed to kill him.  God was already working on this matter.

When Jacob saw Esau with four hundred men, he was very much afraid.  However, when Esau saw him, he ran, fell on his neck and kissed him.  There was peace.

I wonder if we can ascribe to what Jacob asked for?  Could we be satisfied with bread to eat, clothes to wear,  God's presence in our lives and this peace?

Jacob said that if God would do these things for him that he would give 10% of all that he owned to God.

I am quite sure that He has provided us with the physical things that we need and will be with us and keep us in the way that we go and will give us His peace --if we would let Him be all these things to us.

The poor Samaritan leper had a grateful heart.  Jacob had a grateful heart.  Do we have a grateful heart?

Without that inner experience of God's grace, there is no motivation for stewardship.  But when we realize all the wonderful things that He does for us, we experience gratitude and have a grateful heart.

Maya Angelou, America's Poet Laureate and author of such books as I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings among others, tells a story about visiting her grandmother when she was a child.  It seems that the old woman was troubled.  When asked as to what the trouble was, she said that her friends complained all the time --about bills, disappointments, frustrations, problems, crises, and failures.  They constantly grumbled and fussed.  Life seemed to have no joy.

Noting these things to her young granddaughter, the old woman asked, "How many people went to bed and their beds became a funeral bier?  How many of the sheets became a burial shroud?"  Many people would have given anything for five more minutes of this life that her friends complained about!  "They need an 'attitude of gratitude'!" the old woman stated.

Do we have an 'attitude of gratitude'?  Do we have a grateful heart?