The Sin of Ingratitude

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

1 Chronicles 16:34

 And be thankful. Colossians 3:15b

I can remember where I was and what I was thinking the day God turned on the light that showed me I was one of those sinners Christians talked about all the time. At the time I wasn’t around that many Christians but it was something I had heard many times in my life. I grew up going to Sunday School and church so the word “sin” was not foreign to me – I just didn’t think it applied to me.

You can only imagine my surprise and the offense I took at God for pointing it out to me! My initial response was, “If that’s true you better show me.” In His grace He ignored my rebellious attitude and proceeded to show me, and show me, and show me some more!

I have come a long way since those days and now I am hyper aware of some of my sin though it recently became apparent that I am also blind to some of it. I have repeatedly prayed that prayer, with considerably more respect, that God would reveal my sin to me so I might repent. In my heart I keep hoping to hear, “Nothing to show you anymore, You have seen it all.” That day has not arrived and I’m not expecting it any time soon.

I have been reading a lot about people, especially women, who have been hurt by others in their lives. There are so many who have suffered abuse at the hands of someone they should have been able to trust. I have been blessed in the way I have been spared of that. God does seem to bring these women into my life and wants me to minister to them. He has given me many resources so I can better understand their plight and what they need to recover.  I have dutifully read these materials and searched out more.

The sin God showed me this morning as I was studying being conformed to the image of His Son, is that I do not show gratitude for these things. They have become “what I do” so I do not see anything especially praise worthy in them. Yet, God is equipping me to do what He has called me to do – and I am just going through the motions rather than thanking Him from the bottom of my heart that He has not left me out there alone to deal with problems I don’t have any experience with.

When I consider the people God has brought into my life, the work He has allowed me the privilege to watch Him do, and the books and other resources he has given me to prepare me for what he has for me, I am overwhelmed by His generosity! I question if I have been this ungrateful in other areas of my life.

Even before that day when I understood I was a sinner God had placed several solid Christians in my life. I had heard their expressions of faith and I had witnessed their love for other people. As my children were growing up in our home without God He was putting Christians in our lives to draw us to faith. I remember some of the changes He made with regard to workplaces that put me under the leadership of a born again Christian for the first time in my life in my early thirties.

It wasn’t until I began to study God’s word seriously that my real spiritual growth happened. Even in that, I look back on the teachers He brought into my life. My first Bible study was with a woman who started it for me and one other person. She wasn’t sure about our salvation (rightfully so) and so she invited us to participate in a study of the Gospel of John where God really gave me a hunger for His Word.

I doubt that I have ever told that woman she was a catalyst used of God to grow my faith. I am grateful, I just don’t think I have expressed it to my God or to those He has used to bring me to this point.

To avoid more sin, I will make an effort to be grateful all the time. I may even try to be deliberate in thanking some of those who have obeyed God by loving me, speaking truth to me, and serving me as I have grown in faith.

How about you? Are you grateful to God for your faith and for those He has used to grow it? What about your Pastor or Sunday School teachers? A Christian boss who walked the walk? A neighbor or coworker who spoke truth? How will we express our gratitude?