Devote some of this weekend to God by doing this devotion on being thankful!
THANKFULNESS- Luke 17:11-19. Only one out of ten men came back to thank Jesus for healing them.
Begin by asking:
- When was a time someone did something for you where you felt really thankful?
After reading (or having someone in the family read the verses), ask these questions to spark a discussion on the value of being thankful. (I realize there are more questions than needed, ask those that will work best with your family to help create the character of thankfulness.)
- What is leprosy? Why was it such a serious disease physically and socially? (It was a contagious skin disease. Those who had it had to leave all their loved ones and live with those who had leprosy. No one could ever touch them.)
- Why do you think only he came back to give thanks? (He recognized and believed in who healed him and the others didn’t.)
- Why is it important to note that he is a Samaritan? (Samaritans don’t respect or like Jews and yet he came back to praise God.)
- Why do you think the others weren’t thankful? (They may have been so selfish and so excited, they were more concerned about telling others and doing things they haven’t been able to do, than recognizing the source of their healing.)
How about us?
- What has God done for us?
- Why is it hard to recognize what God has done for us, (see God’s answered prayers)? (The biggest reason is probably because we don’t really expect God to work, so we really don’t look for Him to.)
- Would our outlook be different if we really lived out Proverbs 3:5-6 or Matthew 6.33?
- How can we try, even more, to look for what God does, to see God’s answered prayers? (Here is one idea: write prayers down in a pad and then write the date next to when they were answered. It is incredible to look back after doing this for 5 years and remember all of God’s answered prayers.)
- How can we as a family, show our thanks for what God does?
Want to go deeper (have some teens you want to challenge)?
- Jesus said this man had faith. How did this man show his faith? (He went out of his way to give thanks and praise to God.)
- Giving God our deep thankfulness is a way we reveal our faith in God? Why? (It expresses our trust in Him. It shows we acknowledge His answered prayers. That He is at work. That He gets the glory.)
- How do we demonstrate our thankfulness to God?
- What was the result of this man’s faith? Luke 17:19… He was already healed, so what was made “well?” (People’s New Testament says it this way, “His faith had not only saved his body, but he had been born to the new life, his soul was saved.”)
Written by Jonathan
Rev. Jonathan Cronkhite has been serving youth and families for the last 28 years. With the heart of a pastor, he encourages and equips families to have Homes Devoted, through conferences, workshops, coaching, and writing. Married to Carrie for 25 years, they have 5 children, three of whom are young adults. Jonathan enjoys working alongside and discipling his teenage sons and their friends, renovating and flipping homes. He supports Carrie as she leads a home school co-op, and together they practice hospitality and serve in the community.
