Just say Thanks!



       From time to time I have met them in my ministry. They linger after a service, and want and need to talk.  It is always a high honor when I can offer a couple of ears, and many years, of life experience to someone who has something to share.  


I certainly don’t have all the answers but I know someone who does! Today after preaching about the life of David, I had someone ask if they could speak to me. They waited until the congregation began to leave and we talked.  


Guidance needed, council offered…and as I was walking away…this person thanked me, and even said that I had been a great help to their life.  


Words strung together, in a parting statement that left me feeling valued, and needed:) 

Oh I know….believe me, I know who gets the glory, all the praise goes to Jesus…because if anything I say ever lifts a heart…..or is useful in charting a new course of direction for a weary traveler…it is because the Lord Jesus Christ who indwells me, has spoken! 


Anything I say or anybody says is just so much rhetoric and phrasing, it is Jesus who brings life to words, who applies them to hearts, to lives, at just the right time!

I am reminded now of something that happened in the life of our Lord:


     11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13and lifted up their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." 14When he saw them he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went they were cleansed. 15Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17Then Jesus answered, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" 19And he said to him, "Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well."  (Luke 11: 17-19).

Did you catch it, ten lepers  freed from a horrific disease, released from the social pressure of being outcasts…and only one comes back to express what their heart could barely hold.  

That is the power of one; just one statement lifted from Luke’s Gospel….that in turn blessed Jesus!

We to can bless others, when we stop long enough, when we pause and say thank you. 

Today someone did….and today my heart was strengthened.  


15Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks.

Will you…just say thanks?


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