Thanks for What: The Problem

"Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him." (Luke 17:11-12)

Everywhere you turn this week, people will be telling to you to "be thankful" or asking you what you're thankful for. Even the corners of your world that normally steer clear of talking about God will kick around the idea of "giving thanks" in the generic, non-specific, feel-good sense of the word.

Everyone knows we should be grateful -- look at all the food and stuff and music we have! -- and everyone knows we're not great at it. Why is that? This week, we're going to look for clues to our ungratefulish hearts in a familiar (and shocking!) thanksgiving story from the Bible.

It starts with 10 guys who had a gross and fatal and lonely disease where parts of your body slowly decay and fall off. To protect everyone else catching it, people with leprosy had to pack up and start a whole new life away from everyone who was "clean" while they waited to die. Ugly stuff.

Then they met Jesus.

Think: Before we dive into the week, how would you rate yourself on a gratitude scale: mostly thankful, occasionally thankful, mostly unthankful, or "what do I have to be thankful for"? Do you want to be a more grateful person?

Pray: Ask God to help you to be honest with yourself about how much you have to be thankful to Him for.

Do: Ask a few of your friends to rate themselves from 1 to 10 (with 10 being high) as to how grateful they tend to be on a daily basis.

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