The Root of Ingratitude
2
Tim. 3:1-5
This know also,
that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2For men shall be lovers of their own
selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3Without natural
affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of
those that are good, 4Traitors, heady,
highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5Having a form of
godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
In the last days…men shall
be…unthankful.
The least anybody should do in
response to a good deed, is to say, thanks. Why then are people unthankful? Why
are they ungrateful to God?
"Being ungrateful makes one a great
fool."
"Ingrates can never be great." - Pastor Tunde Bakare
1)
Attributing achievement to self
Deut.
8:11-17
Beware that thou
forget not the Lord thy God, in
not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I
command thee this day: 12Lest when
thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; 13And when thy herds and thy flocks
multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is
multiplied; 14Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth
out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; 15Who led thee
through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee
forth water out of the rock of flint; 16Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy
fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to
do thee good at thy latter end; 17And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of
mine hand hath gotten me this
wealth.
2)
Short memory
Deut.
8:11,14
Beware that thou
forget not the Lord thy God, in
not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I
command thee this day:
Then thine heart
be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord
thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of
bondage;
Deut.
15:15
And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee: therefore I
command thee this thing to day.
Deut.
16:12
And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in
Egypt: and thou shalt
observe and do these statutes.
Deut.
26:5-9
And thou shalt
speak and say before the Lord thy
God, A Syrian ready to perish was
my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and
became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous: 6And the
Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage: 7And when we
cried unto the Lord God of our
fathers, the Lord heard our voice,
and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression: 8And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a
mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and
with signs, and with wonders: 9And he hath brought us into this place, and hath
given us this land, even a land
that floweth with milk and honey.
Remember
you were a bondman. Just think back of what/where you were before, and you will
have a cause to thank God.
3) Focus – what
you are focusing on. E.g, Glass – half-filled or half-empty perspective. Are
you appreciating the ground covered or are complaining of the distance yet
uncovered?
The
right attitude ought to be: “I am not where I ought/want to be, yet I am not
where I used to be.”
Your eyes
are constantly on what you don’t have and on what is not working, instead of
appreciating God for what you have and for the things that are working for you.
John 6:9
There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves,
and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
Jesus did not
share the same sentiments with his disciples. While they considered the loaves
of bread and fishes as insignificant, Jesus acted otherwise.
John 6:11
And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given
thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were
set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.
4)
Competitive
spirit
You
are doing just fine with what you have and are grateful for what you have until
somebody shows up who has more than you have, and suddenly you become
dissatisfied with, and ungrateful for, what you have.
“All
my mates are married, some with children. My mates are working, making lots of
money, and I am here.” You’ve not thought of your mates that are dead, sick,
gone mental, etc.
Where
you are right now is somebody’s prayer point. What you have right now is
somebody else’s breakthrough.
"My husband is this; my wife is that...etc" Somebody is praying to have someone they can call their spouse.
"My children are like this. Look at my neighbour's children, etc" Someone is spending millions to be able to have a child. Be grateful to God.
5)
An ungrateful disposition
“Being
ungrateful makes one a great fool.”
Luke 17:11-19
And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that
he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12And as he
entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which
stood afar off: 13And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass,
that, as they went, they were cleansed. 15And one of them, when he saw that he was healed,
turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16And fell down on
his face at his feet, giving
him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18There
are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19And he said unto him, Arise,
go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
Only
one out of ten would usually come back to give thanks. The majority never show gratitude.
6)
Abundance
When you
are hungry, any little food is well appreciated. When you are full, you become
choosy.
Proverbs 27:7
The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the
hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.
When things are
in a bad shape, you are just grateful to see a little ray of hope.
But when
everything is okay, the tendency to forget God is rife in people.
Deut. 8:10-14
When thou hast eaten
and art full, then thou
shalt bless the Lord thy God for
the good land which he hath given thee. 11Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his
judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: 12Lest when thou hast eaten and art full,
and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;
13And
when thy herds and thy flocks
multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is
multiplied; 14Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth
out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
Deut. 32:10-18
He found him in a desert land, and in the waste
howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the
apple of his eye. 11As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over
her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: 12So the Lord
alone did lead him, and there was
no strange god with him. 13He made him ride on the high places of the earth,
that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out
of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock; 14Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of
lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of
wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.
15But Jeshurun
waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen
fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. 16They provoked
him to jealousy with strange gods,
with abominations provoked they him to anger. 17They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods
whom they knew not, to new gods that
came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. 18Of the Rock that
begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.
