Choosing Gratitude Instead of Complaining - Your Nightly Scripture - September 9th
Choosing Gratitude Instead of Complaining
Evening Scripture
Luke, Chapter 17
Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.
“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ ”
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. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him — and he was a Samaritan.
Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. People will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them. For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
“It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.
I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left. ” “Where, Lord?” they asked. He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”
Evening Reflection
Isn’t it funny how quickly we notice everything that went wrong with a day instead of what went right? Let me give you a recent example.
It was a Monday morning, and my plans got shifted dramatically. As soon as I woke up, I could tell I was stressed, irritable, and going to have a rough day. But that morning, before the day really had a chance to begin, I prayed, “Lord, this day is in your hands. Please be with me and help me not to be irritable.”
It wasn’t easy, but that shift changed the day. In the past, I would’ve said the whole day was “bad” simply because it didn’t go the way I originally intended or planned. The reality is, sometimes we don’t need our plans to change, but we need to change our perspective within them.
I’m not saying we need to “just be thankful,” or ignore the hardships of our day. It’s important to be honest with God about what we’re experiencing. But it’s also important that we focus on what we know to be true.
In Luke 17, there are ten lepers who need Jesus’ miraculous healing. All ten are healed, but only one, and a Samaritan at that, comes back to thank Him.
When I read that story, I often think, where did the other nine go? What were they so preoccupied that they couldn’t at least thank Jesus for healing them? And then it hit me: I’m often tempted to do the same, especially when my days get reoriented to perhaps His or another’s plan or agenda.
I don’t know how your day is going so far. I don’t know if you’ve had the best Monday or the worst one yet. Is it going according to plan, or has everything gotten erased off the calendar? But I do know this: One leper stopped and chose to remember what Jesus had done no matter how busy his schedule was. He returned to give thanks because he made it a priority. Jesus knew his full story — the good, the bad, and the ugly.
When you think about your life, what are you most likely to notice at the end of a hard day? What went wrong or what went right? Are you like the lepers who were too preoccupied by the rest of their day that they forgot to make room for Jesus within it, or are you the one who returned? The one who said, here I am, Lord. Here are my hurts. Won’t you heal me? And He does.
Jesus heals those who thank Him and those who don’t. But shouldn’t we be willing to praise and thank the One who gave His all for us? Even when it wasn’t timely, fun, or according to His plan? Absolutely.
Today, might I encourage you to talk honestly to God about the state of your heart? Bring your complaints. But thank Him too. Then answer these three questions:
What is one thing God has done for me that I forgot to thank Him for?
Do I thank God when He gives me something and reflect on the moment, or just jump to the next need?
Which leper are you?
As you prepare for rest, ask yourself: Where did I see God’s goodness, even if today wasn’t a walk in the park? How can that shift my perspective of the day?
Evening Prayer
Dear Jesus,
Thank you for loving me enough to heal me. Please forgive me when I’m more focused on what’s missing than what you’ve already given me. Help me notice your goodness even when life is hard, and teach me to bring my complaints to you without allowing them to consume me. I love, praise, and thank you, Lord. Change me from the inside out.
Amen.
Agape, Amber
How did tonight’s scripture speak to you? Share your thoughts in the Your Nightly Scripture forum discussion.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
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