GRATITUDE
Text:
Leviticus 23: 34-44; Malachi 2: 1-3
The Test: Write down five
greatest blessings of God in your life; tangible or intangible; what you have
now or is in view.
Introduction: when God
gives a law, statutes or institute a
memorial, His target is to inculcate an attitude towards a subject. For
instance, the law of tithing in Lev. 27: 30-32 is essentially to let the people
learn how to give back to God. For the principle of the first-fruits which was
first mentioned in Exodus 23: 16- 19, God wanted them to have an attitude of
making him first in all that they get, including what they labour for. The law
that permits a person to eat from his neighbour’s farm (as stated in Exodus
23:24-25) but not to steal was to create an attitude of giving back to the
society especially the poor. We see
Jesus and his disciples benefit from this principle in Luke 6:1-2.
In the same vein, God
wants his children to always express gratitude. So, He instituted the
celebration called Sukkoth in Israel. During the celebration, they would live
in booths so that they can remember that their God was there to provide shelter
for them in the wilderness.
In that book of Malachi,
the Priests failed to express gratitude and God was angry with them to the
point that He cursed their blessings. May our blessings not be cursed in Jesus
Name.
Gratitude
is
taken from two words; Grateful + Attitude.
Grateful:
To be grateful is to be appreciative. The Oxford Advanced Leaners’ dictionary
defines it as showing thanks because somebody has done something kind for you
or has done as you asked.
Attitude:
The way you behave towards something that reveals the way you think about it
(Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary). So, I say attitude is our mindset that
affects our conducts and dispositions in every situation. It is our inward
thinking that eventually affect our character because every man’s character is
a function of his thinking pattern.
J.C Maxwell has this to
say on attitude:
– The “advance man” of our true selves
– Its roots are inward but its fruit is outward
– Our best friend or our worst enemy
– More honest and more consistent than our words
– An outward look based on past experiences
– The thing which draws people to us or repels them
– Never
content until expressed
– The
librarian of our past
– The
speaker of our present
– The
prophet of our future
Ingratitude
and Its Causes among Believers
The opposite of gratitude
is ingratitude. It simply means an ungrateful attitude. It is equally a mind
thing and it is common among believers. In Malachi 3, God was talking to His
own Priests that were serving on His altar, people who were supposedly closer
to Him than others. Amazingly, it is those who are closer to God that often takes
Him for granted. In the New Testament, every Christian is a Priest (I Pet.
2:9, Rev. 5:10). In this generation, we are the ones who often take God for
granted. We become familiar with His presence and wonders in our lives and fail
to glorify Him. We have become like many old couples who no longer appreciate their
spouses any longer, whereas, in the beginning, it was not so.
More often than not, New
Testament Believers behave like the Israelites. Let’s look at some of the
causes of ingratitude among Covenant people; Christians:
1. Forgetfulness:
human beings are generally forgetful. When things begin to go well for us, we
just seem to quickly forget the days we had nothing. In the same vein, when
challenges come, we quickly forget the days that He showed us His faithfulness.
In Psalm 78:10-20; the
people soon forgot God and His wonders of old and it did not take them time to
begin to murmur against Him when faced with temporary hunger.
And the whole congregation of the children
of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness
And the children of Israel said unto
them, would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt,
when we sat by the fleshpots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye
have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with
hunger (Exodus 16:2-3).
No
matter how great the enjoyment of Egypt, it can never compare to the hunger of
Canaan. More so, they were still on the way to Canaan. Stop allowing the devil
deceives you that your yesterday was better because of your temporary
challenges today. God is taking you somewhere and you will get there. The
hunger will not kill you. You shall not die in that present situation. Give Him
praise because you are confident that the sufferings of this present moment are
not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall not be revealed in you.
God
also warned His Children against forgetfulness when they reach Canaan (Deut.
8:7-11). Canaan was their promised land. When God blesses you with that Job,
husband, wife, child, house, promotion, car, contract, will you still remember
Him?
2. Pride:
it is pride that makes us to arrogate to ourselves the Glory that is due to
God. We fail to acknowledge that it is he that gives us the power to get
wealth. Pride sometimes comes from the forgetfulness of our humble beginning (I
Samuel 15:17; Deut 8: 11-18).
And Samuel said, when thou was little
in thine own sight, was thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the
Lord anointed thee King over Israel?
Pride
always go before a fall. It was the undoing of Saul. Thank God for hard work
but the race is not to the swift. Bless
God for intelligence but bread is not always for the most intellectually gifted.
Thank God for skill, favour is not for the best in the field sometimes. It is a
product of His mercy (Eccl. 9:11 , Rom. 9: 15-16). This we must always keep at
the back of our mind and let all the glory goes to God for all that we see in
our lives. A wise man once said, in the kingdom, there is no achievement, we
only have entrustment.
3. Sense of Entitlement:
we believe we deserve something. This generation promotes so much of human
rights. The right to basic necessities of life. We can even claim the right to
air. But if God chooses to cease any of those things, what will you do? In Psalm
92: 1-6, David expounded on the need for giving thanks to God and rejoicing in
His works. He concluded that a brutish man does know this. To be brutish is to
be stupid.
It
is the sense of entitlement that makes people to protest when the government
has failed in providing certain amenities. Amazingly, there are many believers
today who are protesting at God for things they believe they deserve and He has
not given them. After all, they see similar things in the lives of their
neighbours who they consider as not so prayerful of faithful and yet is more
blessed.
A
stupid child would take his father for granted after receiving his tuition
fees. A stupid man thinks he has the things of life because he deserves them
but the righteous will rejoice in the works of the Lord. Make up your mind
today to quit a “protestant” and stupid attitude and be grateful for His
wonders in your life.
Christ’s
Attitude: The greatest we
can become on earth is to become like Christ. It is to have His attitude. Christ
has an attitude of giving glory to God (Phill. 2:5-8 Amplified). We are to
emulate that attitude. And because of His attitude, he enjoyed the blessings of
thanksgiving.
Case
Study 1:
John 11: 1-4, 40-43. Jesus
knew that raising Lazarus would bring glory to Him. Certainly, most of the
people would not have praised God because they were not seeing God rather they
were seeing Christ. It is normal for the people to acknowledge Christ as the
one that did it. But Christ knew His source. He knew He had prayed to someone
in the secret over the matter and that while praying there, it is because God
would choose to answer, that is when a miracle could occur. Truly, because he
gave glory to God, his prayer received speedy answers. He was able to bring the
dead back to life. He did beyond the expectation of people. What they called
closed case, by his thanksgiving, was re-opened. As you give thanks this month,
every good thing that is dead in your life will come alive again. Your prayer
shall receive speedy response In Jesus Name. God shall use you to wipe away the
tears of many and resurrect people’s hopes in Jesus Name.
Case
Study 2: Matt. 15: 32-36. He had a need he wanted to meet. I
believe He knew He had the power to feed the multitude although he had nothing
to do it except the 7 loaves and few fishes. He gave thanks so that what was
not enough became more than enough. He worked a miracle through the instrument
of thanksgiving. Thanksgiving has a miracle working power. It releases divine
power to make things happen and bring multiplication. As you give thanks this
season, God shall multiply what is not enough in your life in Jesus Name.
Conclusion:
Back to those blessings we wrote down. What has been our attitude to God on
those blessings? Is it of forgetfulness, pride or entitlement? If it is of any
of these things we shall need to repent before the Lord.
Prayers:
Repent of every attitude
of forgetfulness, pride and entitlement sense before the Lord.
Lift up those blessings to
God in thanksgiving. Whatever is dead there will come alive. What is not enough
will be multiplied and you will have more than enough.
Special
Call:
A man that refuses to give
his life to Christ is not grateful to God for the gift of His only begotten son John 3:16. And if you deny
Christ today, God will deny you in eternity. Your attitude to God here will
determine His attitude to you. When you draw near to Him, He will draw near to
you. If you refuse Christ today, He will
also refuse you in eternity II Tim 2:12 . but He is craving you to come to Him
today and be saved. If you are not born
again, make up your mind to give your life to Christ today and it shall be well
with you.
Make this confession of
faith:
Lord Jesus, I believe you
died to set me free. You also rose from the dead to give me the hope of salvation.
Today, I confess you as my
Lord and Saviour.
From this day, I renounce
the devil and sin.
I confess that I am now
free from Satan, Sin and the Curse of the Law, to serve the Living God.
Thank you for saving me In
Jesus Name.
Amen.
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