Luke 6:32-36 English Standard Version
32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Have we ever witnessed someone be ungrateful for something done for them?
I think about times I’ve watched children open their birthday or Christmas gifts and be totally disappointed or full on mad they didn’t get something different.
But kids are immature, we expect holes in their character for things like this.
I’ve also watched ingratitude from adults.
There have been many occasions when I’ve witnessed people go miles out of their way to help someone they do not even know and that later that person talks up a storm about how nobody was there for them in their time of trial.
I just shake my head when and say things under my breath when I see these things because hypocrisy and ingratitude are both a very ugly character trait.
But before I get deep into criticizing others, and too self-righteous, I’m often reminded by the Holy Spirit of how my own ingratitude is displayed every day.
I don’t live as thankful to God as I should for His mercies, His provisions, and salvation given to me – and create excuses as I don’t share back my gratitude.
I take His grace for granted, I presume upon His “always there” kindness and often live with a “what have you done for me lately” posture. God, have mercy.
Numbers 11:4-6 English Standard Version
4 Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. 6 But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”
This passage shows how easy it is for all of us to do this.
We read in this ancient text of the children of Israel wandering in the desert after their rescue from Egypt.
For four hundred years they were slaves, brutalized year after year in Egypt.
You would think their new freedom by the power of God would naturally make them the most grateful people in the world.
Yet, in this ancient text, from their alleged state of gratitude – they grumbled.
They looked back at their time in slavery with a longing for the same foods they gathered, prepared and ate as captives.
It is bizarre for us to think about why there should be such a desire for the old.
At no cost to them, with no expectation of reciprocation, God was providing for them a special bread from Heaven that nobody on earth had ever eaten before.
More importantly, He gave them freedom.
He rescued them.
Yet they were long comfortable enough under Egyptian whips in their bondage that, now being free, they took time to envy the food and the generosity of God, that they had then compared to the food and freedom they had in the present.
Before we shake our heads in disbelief, we are no different.
We would have been among the grumblers too had we been present.
Why?
Because it is in our nature to take God’s blessings for granted.
We are not naturally grateful.
We must somehow give ourselves permission to be grateful, cultivate a grateful heart by constantly meditating, reflecting on the goodness, grace of God to us.
None of it is deserved.
The more we meditate on those realities, the more gratitude will mark our lives.
And if we are forward leaning, forward acting in Christ, we have been rescued from slavery to sin, have the most cause for gratitude than anyone in the world.
Why do you think we are naturally ungrateful people?
What was the root cause underneath the Israelites grumbling about food?
Is the root cause of our grumbling in our times of plenty any different today?
How do we sometimes “automatically” fall into this trap in our own lives?
How might we release ourselves from this “automatic tendency” to mouth off?
How might we help others be more grateful to God as we ourselves figure it out?
Luke 6:32-36 New International Version
32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
We all grumble from time to time, whether it’s about the traffic, the weather, or the lines at the grocery store.
However, when we are constantly complaining, constantly unhappy, or discontent, we probably need to break free from a spirit of ungratefulness.
The truth is ungratefulness concentrates on the negative.
It skips over the blessings of God and focuses on life’s problems.
Often, it repels those we love most because nobody wants to be around it.
I can write about this today because my nature is to grumble and complain.
I’ve struggled with this my whole life, yet God has been gracious in helping me recognize negative thought patterns and to turn them into patterns of praise.
If you feel held in bondage by a spirit of ungratefulness, here are five biblical ways to read about, meditate, ponder and pray over, perhaps act on, break free.
1. Acknowledge it as a Serious Problem
Part of our being trapped, being held in a mindset of bondage, in an ungrateful lifestyle and mindset is we’ll underestimate, gloss over how serious it really is.
In one of the most sobering Bible passages, 2 Timothy 3:1-2, we read,
“There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, and unholy.”
This is only part of a passage that goes on to say we should “have nothing to do with such people.” (Yikes!)
When I look at my own tendency toward avoidance, bias and exclusion and ungratefulness, I am immediately convinced there must be a better way.
And you know what?
The Word of God says there is.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
And the narrative from Luke adds we are to carry such an inclusive attitude even into the presence of those who are ungrateful and wicked exactly like we all are.
Ungrateful people are #1 on anyone’s list of being automatically untouchable.
Avoid, with the same fervor the Israelites would avoid those cracking the whip.
Acknowledging that neither our ungratefulness and their ungratefulness is not any part of God’s will for our, their lives is the first step in breaking free from it.
The good news is God is our help.
As a thoroughly humbled David set aside his earthly crown, walked away from his throne and walked into the Tabernacle of God and He prayed in Psalm 51,
“I blew it, Lord! Please Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”
Let our attitude of gratitude, our prayer of “thanks be to God” be like David’s as we sit or kneel, to ask the Lord to create in us a pure heart, renew our Spirit, and restore the joy of our salvation – these are wonderful things to be grateful for!
2. Realize our Ingratitude Does Affect, Effect, Others
It’s easy to believe our sin struggles only affect us. But any sin left unchecked will eventually seep into the lives of others – especially those we’re closest to.
We can break free from a spirit of ungratefulness when we turn to God as David did in Psalm 51, confess with our whole heart, realize how it’s affecting others.
This might include:
-Negatively influencing our kids
-Making our spouses feel like they can’t do anything right
-Causing others to go out of their way to avoid us at all costs.
-Being known as the pessimist in the family
The moment we recognize how your ungratefulness is negatively affecting other people, we can ask God for renewal, decide to take action – it will take some intentionality on your part, but the Holy Spirit will help you break free.
3. Declare That Ingratitude Does not Define You
Often, when we fall into Satan’s trap and believe we cannot change something about ourselves, we fall into another of his traps and slowly allow it to define us.
We will steadily start to hardcore believe it’s just who we are always going to be.
But absolutely nothing could be further from the truth.
You and I were created in the image of God, in all righteousness and holiness.
Our grumbling spirits do not align with His Spirit, Who lives in us.
Once we seek out the grace of God over our own, declare ungratefulness to be a false notion of who we are, we can move past it into who we were made to be.
What does the Word of God for His Children, promise about you, my friend?
Who did He create us to be?
In whose Image are we Created?
A eternally grateful God or an everlastingly ungrateful Satan?
Declare today that the Spirit of ungratefulness has no place in your life.
The words “pessimist” or “complainer” do not define you.
Only God’s covering through the lifeblood of His Son Jesus Christ shed for us at Calvary (Romans 5:8-10) defines who you are who exactly you were meant to be.
Romans 5:8-10 New Living Translation
8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.
Stand on your true identity today, watch the chains of ungratefulness fall away.
4. Reverse the Way You Think
Romans 12:1-3 New International Version
A Living Sacrifice
12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Humble Service in the Body of Christ
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
There’s a lot of talk about mindset today, which is the way we think and believe.
And while most of the world views it from a psychological perspective, there is a biblical perspective that makes perfect sense.
Here are a few additional verses that address our mindset:
“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24)
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)
A spirit of ungratefulness doesn’t stand a chance when it comes to the truth of God’s Word!
By meditating on these passages, we can reverse the way we think and overcome patterns of negativity.
Remember, the Bible is living, active, and powerful enough to change us from the inside out (Hebrews 4:12).
5. Remember the Old Hymn
You might remember singing an old hymn called “Count Your Blessings.”
According to Hymnary.org, the song was written by Johnson Oatman in 1897.
Verse one says:
When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
The thought of counting your blessings in the face of ungratefulness might sound simplistic, but it’s one of the fastest ways out of a negative cycle.
By naming aloud the things God has done for you, you’re chasing away feelings of discontentment and replacing those emotions with gratitude and praise.
My friend, we cannot out-thank the Lord.
His mercies are new every morning, His blessings are too numerous to count.
From running water under the tap to the miraculous healing of a loved one – and every blessing in between – we have a multitude of things to be grateful for.
Believe it is possible you can break free today from a spirit of ungratefulness and live in the abundance of blessings and genuine freedom you have in Christ.
His Spirit lives in you and transforms you more and more into His likeness.
Declare that this “personal” problem does not define you any longer, nor does it have any influence on your loved ones.
Before long, you’ll be the one who praises the Lord in every situation.
And I don’t know about you, but that sounds a whole lot like freedom to me.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 100 New International Version
Psalm 100
A psalm. For giving grateful praise.
1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his[a];
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 