One morning, I called out to my daughter to come down for breakfast. She replied by saying that she was figuring out how to wear her badge and would come when she was done. Moments later, I heard her say “oh yes! thank you, Jesus, thank you, Jesus”. She was so happy, praising God that she was able to wear her badge.
Her joy for what many people may consider trivial got me thinking. We often forget to thank God or praise Him for the little things. We often take it for granted that we wake up every day going about our daily life. We would remember to give thanks if we bought a house or car or got some huge amount of money because we consider that big. But, think about this little child who praised God endlessly for wearing a badge and learn a lesson in gratitude.
In the bible, 10 lepers come up to Jesus outside a village, begging Him to heal them. Jesus restored all of them to perfect health—but only one came back and thanked Him. All the rest left without a word of thanks, they thought only of themselves and showed no gratitude for their healing. Sadly, we are not very different today. Ungratefulness and thanklessness are so common. We take it for granted when others help us, children no longer thank their parents, courtesy is not common anymore and most of all, we fail to give God thanks for all His blessings.
Ingratitude is a sin just like any other sin. An ungrateful heart is one that is indifferent to Gods love and mercy. It is a heart that is cold towards God and does not give thanks. It is a heart that has forgotten how dependent we are on God for everything. The bible teaches us to be thankful. In fact, thankfulness is a natural outflow of a heart that is connected to God. The psalmist wrote, “Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving”. A spirit of thanksgiving is the mark of a joyous Christian.
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