Why should I be grateful when things aren’t going to suit me?
As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. (Luke 7:38)
There is the picture of a grateful person. She is worshiping, humble, thankful, fully yielded to the Master.
Want to see a photo of an ungrateful individual? Find any reference to a Pharisee, and you have it.
For example:
The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ (Luke 18:11-12)
Without knowing any more, you find your spirit recoiling from this guy. He’s proud of his righteousness and will be harsh and judgmental toward anyone less committed. He addresses God as an equal. He is unteachable, unleadable, incorrigible.
Pity the pastor with Pharisaical leaders. They are ungrateful, self-righteous, demanding, and a pain to live with.
He/she is focused on the negative and feels entitled to:
Criticize: they are quick to point out the shortcomings of the leadership (pastors, teachers, worship leaders). One pastor friend had a member who sent him a full three-page letter every Monday detailing the faults of his Sunday sermon and making suggestions on how to improve it.
Gripe: I expected more, I deserve more. As hard as it is to believe, there actually are people in some churches who feel their spiritual gift is pointing out the shortcomings of others.
Not participate: Why should I? I get nothing from it. They judge everything by that standard: “What will I get out of it?” The selfishness is mind-boggling.
Spread unhappiness among others: Negativism is as contagious as any flu virus ever.
Resist any encouragement from the pastor to change: Because this individual sees himself/herself as the standard for others, they have no further use for lessons to be learned, studies to be taken up.
Such an individual probably is not saved. They give every evidence of being lost. Spiritually blind. Someone who has never met Jesus Christ.
Obviously, such a statement needs clarifying.
The negative, never-happy, always complaining member has clearly never been to the cross. Has never had his/her sins forgiven. Has never seen himself/herself as a sinner in dire need of mercy and then experienced the joy of receiving that mercy as a free gift.
The flush of first-joy that floods the soul when you realize “I once was lost, but now am found; was blind but now I see” changes everything. The newborn child of God is like the man previously known as the Gadarene demoniac of Mark 5. After the Lord saves him, we get two glimpses of him:
In Mark 5:15, people were fascinated to see the formerly crazy man now fully-clothed, seated near Jesus, and in his right mind.
In Mark 5:18, when Jesus got into the boat to leave, we read that “he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him.” Jesus told him to return home and “tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you” (Mark 5:19)
Question: Does anyone think that when that guy returned home, he began to boast of his righteousness and scoff at the sinners among him? He would not have! He would have been humble and grateful, teachable and sweet-spirited. The kind of guy every pastor (and every member) wants in church.
The kind of person I want to be.
When any of us feel ungrateful, it helps to look over the first three verses of Psalm 40 and decide where any of us could not participate, which of these steps we’ve not experienced.
Psalm 40:1-3 — I waited patiently on the Lord and He inclined unto me and heard my cry, and brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and set my feet on a solid rock and established my footsteps; He also put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord.
First, you were crying to God.
Second, you waited on Him.
Third, He heard you.
Fourth, He brought you up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay
Fifth, He set your feet on a solid rock and made your footsteps firm.
Sixth, He put a new song in your mouth.
Seventh, others will see what He has done in you and turn to Him.
To one degree or the other, in one way or the other, those seven steps describe the experience of every born-again child of God. It’s the standard new birth. This is what happened when the Lord saved you.
So, what’s going on with the chronically, habitually ungrateful one? Answer: He/she is on the outside looking in and cannot figure out what all the excitement is about.
He/she is carnal-minded; as we learn about in Scripture:
The mind governed by flesh is death, but the mind governed by the spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:6-8)
Nothing tells the story about our Christian faith like our gratitude. Let us give thanks to Him, and be grateful to one another.
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