.png)
Meditation
Gratitude for and Lack of, a Perspective
The dictionary defines “gratitude,” as the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness. It stands to reason then, that a lack of gratitude is the exact opposite, not being thankful, unready, or unwilling to show appreciation for or not to return kindness.
As a Christian, I am thankful and have gratitude to God and Christ for their many blessings, many of which I receive, and am totally unaware of God blessing me with them. Let’s break down the definitions of gratitude as defined in the dictionary in scriptural terms.
First, the “quality of being thankful.” As Christians, we are taught the quality of being thankful, thankful for what we have, what God gives us, and has given us through His Son, Jesus Christ. To borrow a phrase often repeated by Sophia in the television sitcom, The Golden Girls, “Picture this, “The Garden of Eden, the beginning of time. God has provided everything to Adam and Eve everything necessary to eat and survive. What more could one ask, they were blessed by God with everything they needed. Including each other as a man, and his wife. (Genesis 2:25)
Was Adam and Eve grateful? If they were, the book of Genesis only alludes to the fact that they were aware that God had forbid them to eat of the fruit of the tree amid the garden, as Eve told the serpent in Genesis 3:2-3, they were not to eat, lest you die. What God had provided Adam and Eve in the garden, they were not grateful enough for, as the serpent persuaded Eve to eat from the forbidden tree. (Genesis 3:6.) So serious was this lack of gratitude that it assured that death and all other horrible things would now become a part of life. Clearly, Adam and Eve did not have the quality of being thankful; or readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness, by obeying God.
All of us know that there are many who are unaware of the gratitude one should have for God, and His Son, Jesus. This is because of a variety of reasons, chief of which are not believing in God or Christ, not being a Christian, unaware of the teachings and commandments found in the scriptures, or a feeling of entitlement, expectation, or acceptance that our blessings are from God. A good example of this unawareness is found in 2 Corinthians 9:11 which tells us, “While you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.”
Everyone owes gratitude to God, as described in Revelation 5:13, “And every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever, and ever!” Men are not exempt from this debt, even if they are unaware of it. This is why it is incumbent on us as Christians to obey Jesus’ command as found in Matthew 28:19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
What does the scriptures tell us about those who are ungrateful, and without gratitude? Let’s look at some of the examples.
Don’t forget about God, and what he has blessed us with. Deuteronomy 8: 11-14 warns us, “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His rules and His statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”
Does this sound familiar, today, and here in America where we all are exceedingly blessed? As humans, we tend to forget our source of blessings and get carried away by our successes.
The Children of Israel did not have gratitude towards God as described in Psalm 106: 21-22. “They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt, wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
What was God’s reaction to the ingratitude of the Children of Israel? In Jeremiah 2:2-3 we are told, “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, thus says the Lord, I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of His harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt; disaster came upon them, declares the Lord.
Gratitude was given to Jesus by only one of ten men whom he healed of leprosy, and to me, is a callous disregard of gratitude. Luke 17: 11-19 tells us, “Then when one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus feet, giving Him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”
Both the Old and New Testaments address the concept of gratitude and ungratefulness in various passages, emphasizing the importance of thankfulness and the negative consequences of being ungrateful, which in my opinion is sinful. Gratitude is regarded as a virtue and an essential part of one’s relationship with God and others. Not being grateful, or even forgetting about all the blessings of the Lord and Jesus Christ is disgraceful and unacceptable!
