Shape Of Your Heart: Discover The Building Blocks Of Great RelationshipsSample

Bless Your Heart

One of the key building blocks to a great relationship is gratitude. And in Luke 17 we get some perspective on why it is so easy to be ungrateful and what we can do to begin practicing more gratitude in our lives.

The encounter Jesus had with ten lepers while traveling along the edge of Samaria and Galilee has application with our relationships. These men were living in a middle space – a place between borders and boundary lines. In our relationships, anytime there are not clear boundaries, when there are not clearly defined roles and responsibilities, you can expect the stress and strain of existing in that space to manifest. That’s what’s going on with these men. They’re stuck. Not really in Samaria, but not really in Galilee either.

We’re told that they had a disease called leprosy. Leprosy was a nerve disease that caused you to lose your ability to feel anything at all. It wouldn’t kill you, but it would also never end; you were just in a state of deterioration. This condition they were living with was also the thing that kept them at a distance. It was the thing that kept them from intimacy with other people.

But before Jesus talks about gratitude He confronted the issue of entitlement with His disciples. He teaches us that gratitude starts when entitlement stops. We can’t be grateful for something if we feel entitled to it. Jesus modeled this for us in the fact that though He was God, He took on the role of a servant. In the context of our relationships, our responsibility is to take on the attitude of Jesus - a servant. When you approach your relationships this way it’s not about “What’s in it for me?” It becomes “What can I put into it?”

The story of the lepers shows us that gratitude isn’t based on how good our situation is, but on how good it seems to us. All ten lepers had the same situation and all were healed by Jesus, but only one of them came back and showed gratitude. So stop thinking of gratitude as a byproduct of your circumstances and start looking for a reason to show it.

As the one leper came back to thank Jesus for what He’d done, Jesus told him that his faith had made him “well.” The word “well” translated here is the Greek word “sozo.” It’s a different word used than the word translated “cleansed” in verse 17. Sozo means, saved, forgiven and whole. That means the one who came back to express gratitude received something none of the others did. All ten were healed, but only one was made whole. The truth is, showing gratitude isn’t an obligation, it’s an opportunity. It’s not about what it does for the other person, it’s what it does in your own heart and how it changes you.

Questions for reflection.

Do you approach your relationships with what you can get out of them or what you can put into them? Are there things you’re ungrateful for because you feel entitled to them? What are the things you can express gratitude for in your current relationships?