From "Thanks" to "Thank You"

“From ‘Thanks’ to ‘Thank You’”

By Zach Wood

Luke 17:11-19 NIV

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.”

Many years ago, when I worked at a computer warehouse in the cities, I had a conversation with a guy that I will never forget.  He had heard me say “thanks” to others and to him when certain things were done for me.  He knew the type of person I was and that I did mean what I say, but he made a comment that will remain forever with me.  He said that he knew I meant it, but that to say “thank you” instead has much more meaning. 

From that point on, I have had such a different view of “thanks” and “thank you”.  Think about those two phrases for a few moments.  Do they sound totally different to you?  They sure do to me now!  I never really considered it before, but after that conversation and to this day, I continue to share this concept with people and I always get a confirmation that saying “thank you” sounds so much more meaningful.  I don’t know what it is about taking the time to say two words instead of just one, but there is just something more meaningful when you say “thank you” instead of just “thanks”.  Please understand, I’m not saying “thanks” is wrong by any means, but just consider trying “thank you” instead and see how it makes others feel and how you feel when you say it.

Jesus heals 10 lepers here.  They all start heading away when all of a sudden one does a 180 and realizes, “Hey, something really cool just happened and I’m going to take the time to tell Jesus how much it meant to me!”  The 1 leper decided to take a trip back to Jesus and show his true thankfulness.  Does that mean the other 9 didn’t care or took it for granted?  I’m not quite sure and I don’t want to assume anything about them.  However, we are led to think that they didn’t really think about showing appreciation to Jesus as the 1 leper did who took the time to turn around and thank Jesus.

I want to encourage all of us to consider showing appreciation to others by saying “thank you” instead of “thanks”.  Most of all, we need to show God appreciation every day by taking the time to thank Him for all He has done and continues to do.  From “thanks” to “thank you”.  It may not seem like much at first, but it will change your thinking of how you say it and show it.