Thanksgiving: Better Late than Never

Dr. James J. S. Johnson

And it came to pass, as He [i.e., the Lord Jesus Christ] went to Jerusalem, that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as He entered into a certain village, there met Him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off; and they lifted up their voices, and said, “Jesus, Master [επιστατα], have mercy on us!” And when He saw them, He said unto them, “Go shew yourselves unto the priests.” And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving him thanks, and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? There are not found who returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.” And He said unto him, “Arise, go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.” (Luke 17:11-19)

Once, while passing through the north of Israel (“Samaria and Galilee”), the Lord Jesus Christ simultaneously healed ten lepers — yet only one of the ten, a Samaritan, thanked the Lord Jesus for the healing, — and even that man was slow in doing so! What amazing miracles, yet such ingratitude. However, for the one who was thankful, better late than never! (Actually an attitude of gratitude should be ongoing — see 1st Thessalonians 5:18.)

For this year (AD2018), Thanksgiving has come and gone. But it is not too late for me to give thanks for this year — which shall here be done by linking to a Thanksgiving message [“Be Thankful for Thanksgiving! Pilgrims, Providence, and Praise“] that I gave once to a church, — plus giving a blogpost link to “Strangers and Pilgrims (and the American Turkey”), which “lives” on LEESBIRD.COM blogsite, as well as a link to “Who Supplied the Food for the Frist Thanksgiving?” (a RockDoveBlog blogpost).

11-27-AD2016 Thanksgiving message: http://bcctampa.sermon.net/main/main/20814912

11-25-AD2014 blogpost: https://leesbird.com/2014/11/25/strangers-and-pilgrims/

11-23-AD2016 Thanksgiving blogpost: https://rockdoveblog.wordpress.com/2016/11/23/who-supplied-the-food-for-the-first-thanksgiving/

Hopefully, the Thanksgiving message (linked above), and/or the blogposts (linked above), will remind and encourage you (and me) to be continually grateful to God for Who He is and for the wonderful grace that He has given to us, firstly by creating us (Psalm 100:4), and secondly by giving us redemption in Christ (Luke 10:20): Hallelujah!

So, this is my belated Thanksgiving post for last month’s Thanksgiving holiday — or maybe I should consider this as a very early Thanksgiving post for AD2019! ><> JJSJ