Ungratefulness or Unthankfulness

When you do a good deed or give a prized gift to an acquaintance, you probably appreciate their grateful acknowledgement of the gift.  Thankfulness is a virtue to all of us.  How much more important it is to express a genuine thankful spirit to God.  Paul says that we are to be “joyously giving thanks to the Father” (Colossians 1:12).  In Colossians, Paul says to “be thankful” (3:15), to sing “with thankfulness in [our] hearts to God” (v. 16), and to give thanks in prayer to God the Father (v. 17).

He goes on to say, “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving” (4:2).  Indeed, Paul commands, “In everything give thanks” (1 Thessalonians 5:18; cf. Ephesians 5:20).  We should be deeply grateful to God for daily blessings as well as all the spiritual blessings in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).

Since God is the great Giver, the One who gives “every good thing” and “every perfect gift” (James 1:17), it is the height of ingratitude or ungratefulness to neglect giving Him our sincere thanks.  Paul writes to the Romans about the wrath that God places on the pagans because of their “ungodliness and unrighteousness” (1:18).  The apostle says that “although they new God,’ they did not honor Him as God or give thanks” (v. 21).  These unbelieving Gentiles did not honor God or give Him thanks.  This constitutes a dreadful sin against our God and it is widespread in our day as well.

Ingratitude is a serious sin. . . . We must be resolute and not tolerate it any longer because it hurts the Father’s heart so deeply and provokes His wrath against us. . . . Ungrateful people also have good reason to rejoice over God’s proofs of love, while ungrateful people are dissatisfied and upset.  That is a typical symptom of pride.  But the more the Lord shows us our wretchedness and sinfulness the more our hearts will rejoice when the Father in heaven, in spite of all our sins, still gives us good gifts, and people also give us presents.[1]

If you ever sit in a workplace lunchroom or have reason to sit in a restaurant, take special notice of how many give thanks before eating a meal.  We would suppose that nor more than 10 percent offer thanks and probably fewer.  Paul was unafraid of others’ ridicule, for he “took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of all” (Acts 27:35)—before a total of 276 persons (v. 37).  God is the Giver of all our daily blessings (cf. Matthew 5:45; Acts 14:15-17; 1 Timothy 6:17). Should we not openly thank Him?

Failure to give God thanks verbally as well as with our heart definitely is sinful.  Yet God continues to be “kind to ungrateful and evil men” (Luke 6:35).  Paul says that “difficult times” would come in which “men will be lovers of self, lovers of money,” and one of their characteristics is that they are “ungrateful” to the Lord (2 Timothy 3:1-2).  He is describing today!

Along with the sin of unthankfulness to God, we know that many fail to have a grateful spirit toward other people and neglect to express thankfulness to them. How often do you say, “Thank you!”—and really mean it?  Luke tells us the account of Christ’s healing of ten lepers.  Of the ten, only one returned and “fell on his face at [Jesus’] feet, giving thanks to Him” (Luke 17:16).  Let us thank our next door neighbor for his or her kindnesses, let us thank the girl at the supermarket who does us a favor, let us thank the mechanic who works on our car, and let us thank the postman who delivers our mail.  Thank your parents, your spouse’s parents, your children, your husband or wife, your relatives for the way they have blessed you.  Let us turn from the sin of ungratefulness in all of its forms!  A Christian is a thankful person—expressing this to both God and others.

 

[1] Schlink, You Will Never be the Same, pp. 100-101.