Mastering the Two Prayers - Part 1

When I asked the late John Stott what he considered to be the greatest problem in the church, he gave a one-word answer – superficiality.

I agree with him. Connected to the epidemic of superficiality in the church is the problem of ingratitude. As William Ward asked, “God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say ‘thank you’?”

In the account of Jesus healing the 10 lepers, we note they had faith that turned to God. They can be commended for this. They called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” (Luke 17:13).

Jesus graciously healed them, and tested their faith by asking them to go to the priests to get a certificate of health (as required by the law). They must have noticed that their skin still looked leprous. But they believed Jesus and obeyed Him. “And as they went, they were cleansed” (v. 14). Faith was rewarded after their obedient response to Jesus’ command.

We can imagine how joyful those lepers were that day. They all had the faith that turned to God. But only one had faith that returned to God with thanksgiving. He came back to Jesus, fell at His feet and thanked Him (v. 15-16). We are told that this man was a Samaritan. (Even though Jews and Samaritans did not usually mix, lepers had no such divisions; adversity has a way of uniting people).

In this case, the Samaritan was the only one to return to Jesus. When the 10 lepers were healed, the line between Jew and Samaritan became visible once more. Prosperity tends to divide those who are just happy with their changed circumstances from those who are truly grateful to God. As R H Blyth observed, “There is no greater difference between men than between grateful and ungrateful people.”

The nine ungrateful lepers were cleansed, but this grateful Samaritan was truly “made well” (v. 19) – what a difference! All the lepers stood at a distance from Jesus, except for this man who came close to Jesus. It seems that only grateful believers come close to Jesus. The rest ask for blessings from a distance.

Consumer Christianity is made worse by our sense of entitlement. We think we are entitled to God’s blessings and His convenient interventions. Like the nine lepers who thought nothing more of what they had received from Jesus, how often do we eat food, enjoy health or receive daily blessings without a grateful thought to God? We take ordinary things for granted.

G K Chesterton astutely observed, “When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?”

We are more thankful to human beings than to God – and for lesser things. Chesterton challenges us:

You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime; grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.

There is great danger in treating God as a kind of divine ATM machine. We think He exists for our good; instead, we exist for His pleasure. We must remember that it is God who blesses us with all good things, and learn to live gratefully. Only then can we grow spiritually.

Reflective question: How do habits of self-gratification and the spirit of entitlement and self-sufficiency diminish our sense of gratitude to God for all His blessings? What are the temptations that adversity and prosperity each bring into our lives?

Next week: We can always find reasons for gratitude before God. Matthew Henry, the Bible commentator, was once robbed of his wallet…