"Giving Glory To God"

"Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord He is God; it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His Name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations." (Psalm 100) There is something about giving glory to God that can really fortify our love for Him; consequently, causing us to have a disdain for the things which are contrary to Him and His Holiness. This effect is magnified my our earnest praise; which means, praise that is serious! As we look again to our story of the 10 lepers, Jesus had said something about giving God glory; we find it in verse 18, "There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger". There are a couple of quick points about this statement which I find interesting; one of them is the fact that Jesus used the word 'stranger' to describe this Samaritan. It would be apparent that those other nine lepers may have been Jews, and that the only one who gave God glory for his healing was a foreigner, or one from another nation; which brings me to the other quick point, and that is that Jesus said, "there are not found", which would also indicate that He was most likely speaking of being found among the Jews. The reason I find this to be interesting, is that the Jewish people felt that they were the true worshipers of God, and that the Temple was the only place for true worship to take place. If you remember back to the Samaritan 'woman at the well', and the encounter Jesus had with her about 'true worship'; Jesus said, "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him." (John 4:23) I find this especially interesting because the word that Jesus used for 'glory' has such a vast meaning; the word is 'doxa', and it comes from the root word 'dokeo', which means to think or recognize. My point in this matter is, that in order to worship God in truth, we must come to an understanding of who He is, and all that He has done for us. Which is precisely what this stranger did as he realized that he was healed, and who it was that healed him! He recognized Jesus!