As we approach a season that reminds us to be thankful we will explore how important this is to our prayer life. Thanksgiving is our topic today. You may think this is an easy one, as well as it should be. However, I believe we live in a society that exhibits the character trait of “entitlement.” This is the attitude that proclaims, “I deserve everything I get and more.” The truth is that if we get what we deserve, we get Hell! We are a fallen creature that shakes its fist in the face of our creator. We have a God so gracious and loving, that he sacrificed his son for us. Yet, we act as if we are supposed to be in control.
I honestly think one of the worst sins that American Christians commit is the sin of being ungrateful! We are to be truly thankful for everything. Making a conscious effort to show gratitude for the benefits received. Over and over we are told in scripture to give thanks to God.
I Chronicles 16:8 “Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.”
I Chronicles 16:34 “ O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth forever.”
Psalm 106:1 “ Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever.”
We are to be thankful for everything! Little or big, painful, or happy, each a gift from God to conform us to the image of Jesus! We can give thanks in everything because we have a firm confidence that “God is working all things out for our good” Romans 8:28, and for His glory. From our perspective, it may seem the opposite of God’s best for us, but we wait on Him and watch in simple trust. That is faith in action!
Ephesians 5:20 “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;”
We have the account of the ten lepers in Luke 17. Jesus healed all of them and told them to go to the Priest and show that they were healed. This was the only way they could be restored to their family and to society. However, one, and only one turned and came back to Jesus to give thanks. This man was truly grateful. He was seeking to show gratitude before seeing his own family. A family he had been cast out from since being declared unclean!
Luke 17:15-18 “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.”
Jesus even asks, “Where are the nine?” Jesus told them to go, but the right thing to do was to come back and give thanks. If he had not intended for them to do so, he would not have asked where they were.
Everything good comes from God. Isn’t it fitting that we show thankfulness and gratitude to the one who is the giver of good?
James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”
The opposite of thankful is unthankful, ungrateful, unappreciative, and even critical. The exhibiting of being unthankful is shown by complaining, grumbling, or as we sometimes say, “a bad attitude.” When we are grumbling and complaining we are no different from the Israelites who wished they were back in Egypt where they had fish, leeks, and garlic! They were ungrateful for the miracles God had performed to get them out of Egypt where they were no more than slaves. They loathed the manna that God sent from heaven every day, but the Sabbath. We look at their story, and wonder how anyone could be that ungrateful! Sometimes I think we need to take a long look in the mirror and give a hearing to our own words. God hates our ungrateful attitude! This was God’s response to them.
Numbers11:1,2 “And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the LORD, the fire was quenched.”
When we are ungrateful it’s like telling God what he has done is not good enough for us. What a horrible thought!
Do your actions and words speak from an ungrateful heart?
Listen, and really pay attention to what you say today. How would you describe your attitude?
