The 10 Most Influential Persons of the Year 2012

Last week I had the rare opportunity of talking to a group of Christian worshipers on the imperatives of gratitude to God.  The succeeding comments, phone calls and personal interactions that accompanied the message deepened my thought on the issue of gratitude holistically. One critical question that wallowed through my mind in all of these was ‘the place of fellow mortals in our attitude of gratitude’. The big question for me was ‘beyond God, do I owe men gratitude? YES! Was the overwhelming inner response I got.

Not just to settle for a lesser debate I searched further for spiritually based evidences to this position. A number of bible based stories flashed through my mind to concur with the fact that every man indeed owe another man gratitude for what God has used him to do in his life. Let me share this simple but profound story to buttress my point.

The Ten Lepers

This is one of the celebrated teachings of Christ that is used to depict the need for Christians to show appreciation to God for the good they receive from Him. No issue with that perception- except that in my discussion last week, I sought a rather different view on the issue and enquired rhetorically whether our appreciation should be based on only miracles and tangible blessings we can count? (See Gratitude: the right attitude for spiritual Health for more on that).

In Luke 17:11-19 from where the story is culled, an account was given of Christ’s journey to Jerusalem, in which 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, and 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? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."

Even though I do not intend to analyze this story in its full theological perspective, I will however consider the following critical points of the story:

i.                   First there were ten lepers healed but only one returned to show appreciation to Christ (Verse 15).

Whatever was responsible for this must fall between forgetfulness, procrastination or outright ungratefulness. The latter perhaps represents a really bad attitude.

ii.                 The other major concern of Christ was expressed in verse 17-  and Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?

Let me perhaps explain here that Christ was still with his disciples on earth and as at this time it was Christ the “human” working under heaven’s mandate. Only Jesus Christ holds the dual status of being man and God. Even though he was not interested in getting any human reward from the other nine lepers, he was worried as a normal human would as to why the nine did not show up. The answer to that is another day’s discussion, but here is the moral to lesson-men deserve and expect their fellow humans to show gratitude for charities received in kind and otherwise.

We may argue this differently as to why should men seek to be appreciated for their kind deed, would they not forgo the attaching blessings by this act? Yes! That is true only if the intention behind the good gesture is to gain public recognition. In the absence of that which only God can determine- it is appropriate before God and men to appreciate others for the good role God has used them to play in our lives. 

Sometimes it seems to me as if we have a slightly negative practice of this principle. It is common for people to reserve all gratitude they owe people till their funeral when they speak of all the good works of the person-obviously because we do not want to speak evil of the dead. We must however learn to appreciate persons whom God have used to bless us throughout a year.

It is possible for us to say I owe only God my gratitude-No Doubt! But God will always use men to accomplish His plans in our lives. As I think further of how best to reinforce this concept in our minds, it became clear to me that for a man to be called a father (a process that seems purely natural) he requires the support of a woman who would bear him children. Even though it is God that gives children, no man would boast of being a father without the biological support of his spouse or partner. Invariable we need men and owe them gratitude as well for all God has used them to achieve in our lives.

The Action Point:

Just before you stop reading this, I want you to do the following:

i.    Carefully think of those folks God have used to make the year 2012 a blissful one for you.

ii.        Make a list of your “10 most influential Persons of the year 2012”.

iii.   Do not stop there complete the process by sending them an SMS of appreciation and thanking them with specific reference to what God used them to achieve in your life this year.

Shalom!  Shalom!! Shalom!!!