It’s almost incredulous that Jesus heals ten lepers in Luke 17 simultaneously. Without fanfare, he commands the motley crew, “Go, show yourselves to the priest.” They exit stage left, and while Jesus restores their skin.

Jesus earns a big, two thumbs down for lack of sensationalism.

Yet, the Lord was never concerned with aggrandizement. However, what was unbelievable to Him was the lack of thankfulness from the former lepers. Only one of them makes a U-turn to thank Him for His tremendous miracle.

Only one.

As the Bible records in Luke 17:15-16, “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 is shocked and asks, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”

The unfortunate result was that 90 percent of them missed the second, more critical gift Jesus had planned for them. To the lone, grateful Samaritan, He responds, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” Most importantly, Jesus restored his spiritual life.

Gratitude Gives and Receives

Scripture doesn’t tell us why the other lepers failed to thank God. Yet it’s clear that the Samaritan’s grateful heart prepared him to receive more. The same is still valid for us today: the gratitude we give God increases His activity in us.

How?

Here’s a theological sequence that is paramount to understanding this: gratitude begets humility (thanks to Dallas Willard for this idea) which begets God’s grace.

Let’s begin with gratitude. Gratitude has been called the “gateway” spiritual discipline. As Psalm 100:4 commands us, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.” In gratitude, we thank Him not just for the stuff that fills our storage spaces but also for Him.

Gratitude begets humility because it reveals our God-given neediness. Humility is a heart condition that recognizes that all of our blessings have been received, not earned. It understands how utterly deprived we stand before a Holy God. We can’t advance God’s Kingdom, be saved, or even love God in return without His own love for us first.

Indeed, humility is the right posture when relating to God. And it permits God’s grace in our lives. As James 4:6 states, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Since God’s grace is God’s power, the more thankful and needy we are before the Lord, the more power we receive.

This recursive pathway of gratitude, humility and grace allows us to experience more of God’s presence and power.

It’s a “win-win-win.”

What About When We Suffer?

Gratitude easily flows when we’ve landed our dream job or just fell head-over-heels for a potential mate. And it’s easy to lift up some heavenly appreciation when we only receive a warning (instead of a ticket) for speeding. But what about when we don’t get our way? Or when tragedy strikes?

Can we still be thankful then?

Indeed, life is not always a buffet of delicious circumstances where we get to pick and choose which items we put on our plate. Sometimes we get served a dish of lemons.

Yuck.

Fortunately, Christian gratitude doesn’t require us to “turn our lemons into lemonade” — a cliché often found in a cheesy, self-help book. Certainly painful events can be serendipitous. At the same time, I can hardly imagine Jewish people building lemonade stands in Nazi concentration camps or parents serving lemonade at their child’s funeral.

A theology of gratitude like this is at best misguided, if not downright egregious. Can you imagine a passerby saying to Jesus on Calvary, “Turn that frown upside down”?

Ingesting life’s difficulties and tragic events can be overwhelming. Therefore, having a heart of gratitude is not about looking at the bright side of things. It’s not even acknowledging that things could be worse. Our thankfulness is never to be based on a set of circumstances.

It’s based on a Person.

Jesus Understands Our Pain

The answer to our pain and suffering wasn’t new circumstances but God Himself. Jesus came not only to suffer for us but also to suffer with us. Isaiah 53:3 describes Christ as being: “Despised and rejected — a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.”

Jesus understands our pain and empathizes with us.

Instead, our gratitude rests soundly in the assuredness that God will ultimately redeem every horrible situation in this life or the next. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

However, it’s easy to miss God’s current blessings when pain overwhelms us. I’ve shaken my fist toward heaven more than once in agony. Even so, God will never take away His gifts. He’s that good. If I were in Jesus’ shoes, on the other hand, I’d probably replace the nine leper’s healings with nine nasty curses. Or I’d at least unheal them all.

That’ll show ‘em to be thankful!

But it was love, not intimidation, that drew one Samaritan to unwrap the gift of eternity. Saying “thank you” will always reveal unseen blessings. We can’t control the Giver, but we can always expect one gift: the grace to hope.

Then, we’ll receive other everyday events like watching sunsets, eating dinner with a friend, or sleeping in a comfortable bed as underserved blessings. Every day is a treasure hunt. What hidden gifts will gratitude lead you to find today?