I get the feeling that, due to the holidays, that many think that messages on gratitude and thanksgiving is just a sweet topic, safe, more fluff than substance, without strength or much meaning. However, it is a serious topic that reflects spiritual maturity or the lack of it. Paul listed ingratitude among the dark sins of the Gentile world. He wrote,

"Because that when they knew not God they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." (Rom. 1:21.) "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. . . ." (2 Tim. 3:1-2.)

Someone said that the sin of ingratitude is even more serious than the sin of revenge. With revenge, we return evil for evil, but with ingratitude, we return evil for good. (W. Eugene Hanse, "Ensign," Nov. 1989, 24.) Another wrote, "Ingratitude is one of our great sins." (Ezra Taft Benson, "Ensign," 1977, 33.)

In looking at some passages on giving thanks, here are some things that impress about this biblical theme.

It impresses me that gratitude follows as a natural response from knowing and accepting God in Paul’s description of the Gentiles. If man rejects God, for whatever reason for doing so, ingratitude will follow. Man, the, would have no one greater than himself to express thanks. But acknowledging God naturally places man as the recipient of His blessings, including life itself.

Paul declared God to the Athenians by saying, "Whom therefore you ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth dwells not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he gives to all life and breath, and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation. . . For in him we live and move and have our very being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring." (Acts 17:23-28.)

Some of the Psalms express the great truth that God as Creator has provided for all his creation.

"He waters the hills from his chambers; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. He causes the grass to grow for the cattle and herb for the service of man that he may bring forth food out of the earth. . . . The young lions roar after their prey and seek their meat from God. The sun arises, they gather themselves together, and lay down in their dens. Man goes forth unto his work and to his labor until the evening. O Lord, how manifold are thy works?" (Psalm 104:13-24.)

To the Corinthians, Paul expressed it powerfully with these words: "For who makes thee to differ from another? What hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" (1 Cor. 4:7.) All that we have or all that we are has been received from the hands of God.

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James 1:17.)

Just as ingratitude is found in a cluster of other ungodly traits, in Romans 1 and 2 Timothy 3, gratitude is one expression of the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. Christian virtues are like a cluster of grapes, they do not alone. Being thankful is a spiritual part (not a natural part) of knowing God, understanding our dependence upon Him as creatures of his hands, and knowing that all that we have we have received from Him and others. In Galatians 5, Paul describes opposite traits in his list of the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. After he named several works of the flesh, he simply wrote, "And such like." (5:21.) Likewise, in verse 23, after describing the fruit of the Spirit, he wrote, " Against such there is no law." All of the evil things belong together. All of the good traits resulting from faith, understanding of the Gospel, obedience, and the result of the work of the Spirit in your life belong together. There was no point in naming them all.

I am impressed that the cluster of good traits were most often found in the hearts of those who were not Pharisees, and the cluster of sinful deeds and attitudes were found among the Pharisees. The same Spirit of God that works in you to love others, to love God, and to do God’s will in life, will also express gratitude and humility. Paul did not write, fruits of the Spirit, but rather fruit of the Spirit. These godly traits are found in a cluster.

Jesus often put in bold contrast the behavior of the Jews, especially the Pharisees, with the Samaritans which the Jews despised. Jesus often pointed out that the Samaritans often expressed a greater faith than the Jews. In the story of the ten lepers who were healed by Jesus, only one returned to give thanks to the Lord. That one was a Samaritan. (Luke 17:12-18.)

Jimmy Brown wrote the following story about the ten lepers.

"There were ten of us there that day. Each of us needed healing from the leprosy that ravaged our bodies. We were outcasts. . . society didn’t want us. In fact, we were ordered to stay away from the public and forced to cry out, Unclean, unclean, if anyone approached us. Then, we saw this man. He didn’t avoid us like the rest, in fact, He came forward and called to us. We saw that it was Jesus. We had heard of this man. Some said that He was the Messiah. Others said a great teacher. But, one thing they all agreed on was the fact that He had a healing touch. That’s what we needed, so we cried out, Have mercy on us.

"I’ll never forget what happened next. He told us to go show ourselves to the priests. That could only mean one thing, we were going to be healed! We all looked at each other in disbelief and my friend turned and started towards the temple. We all followed, excitedly discussing the possibility of being cleansed.

"Then, it happened. We hadn’t gone very far and I felt kind of warm, even tingly. I could scarcely believe my eyes! My skin dried up. I was healed. I looked in disbelief at the others and they too were clean. It was a miracle! This man, Jesus, He was a healer!

"My friend turned around and headed back. We called out, Where are you going? He said, I’m going to thank Him. I’m going to thank Jesus. I thought about turning around and going with him, but then one of our group said, I’m not going to thank Him until I make sure that this healing is permanent.

"I might get leprosy again tomorrow, for all I know. The others murmured in agreement. We would have been healed anyway, another spoke up. Yeah, we suffered enough, we were owed a blessing.

"But, don’t you see, Jesus healed us. He is the one who. . . I was interrupted immediately. You are the one who doesn’t see, another said roughly. I’ve got to get home and tell my family and friends the good news. I’ve got to make up for lost time. Maybe I can get my old job back.

"Yeah, let’s throw a party tonight, a younger man said. But, don’t you think we should at least thank Jesus, I continued. Thanks, shmanks, the younger man said. Jesus knows that we appreciate it, now let’s move on.

"It shames me to say it, but I never went back that day. In fact, I never did say, Thanks. I got so caught up in the healing and the comments of the others and wanting to start my life over that I never did tell the healer, Jesus, that I was grateful He came my way on that day. I never told Him how much His blessing meant to my life and to the lives of my family and friends. I never told Him how new I felt and how He changed my life that day.

"That’s gratitude for ya."

We may have a lot of questions about what we should pray about, what to ask, and how to approach God. However, there is one thing that we can always be certain of; that is, expressing thanksgiving to God is always acceptable. There is just no question about it.

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God." (Phil. 4:6.) "And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." (Col. 3:17.) "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." (Eph. 5:20.)

Jesus criticized the way the Pharisees were praying---to be seen and heard of men. (Matt. 6:5-15.) The things named that Jesus did not approve of were praying to be seen by others and vain repetitions or much speaking. Jesus added, "For your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask him." (6:8.) We might make some mistakes in praying in other areas, but there is not a criticism of thanksgiving in all the Bible. It is always acceptable, always the right thing to do. Yes, we can make requests of God, but requests can seem more like telling God what to do. He knows what to do in running the universe. He knows what things we need. What is most needful is that we express love and gratitude to God.

There are spiritual blessings that are for everyone. All spiritual blessings are found in Jesus Christ. (Eph. 1:3.) Physical blessings are bit more difficult. While we should be grateful for all things physically and materially, we should be cautious about thinking that were meant specifically for one person and not another.

I had not thought much about this before. One of my professors said to the class one day that there is a great difference between saying, I am thankful, and saying, Lord, I thank you that you gave this or that to me. For example, some are blest with good health all of our lives. I know an elderly couple (the husband recently died) who never took prescription medicine regularly or daily during their long life. Others are plagued with one difficulty after another, physically. The one with good health can and should be thankful. But to say, Lord I thank you for doing this for me implies that he purposefully did not give good health to someone else. In like manner, we are blest living in a free society that is prosperous. Others have been born in countries with oppressive dictators. Did the Lord plan that one person be blest and the other to suffer? I doubt it. Some are born healthy with ten toes and ten fingers. Other children are born with handicaps and severe disabilities. Did the Lord favor some children and punish others? Surely not. We can and should always be thankful for our good circumstances in life. But our physical circumstances may not be from the Lord. Did the Lord find that we deserved riches and others to be poor?

Solomon wrote, "I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill, but time and chance happened to them all." (Eccl. 9:11.)

Some people just cannot bear this idea of "time and chance," but Solomon acknowledged that this explains many things that are physical or material in nature. Otherwise, we have the Lord being a respecter of persons.

It is altogether appropriate that we expression gratitude to God for our salvation.

"For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." (Eph. 2:8-9.)

"What hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" (1 Cor. 4:7.)

The worst form of ingratitude is found in man’s rejection of the gift of eternal life. ". . . and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace?" (Heb. 10:29.)

Like the Samaritan leper who turned back to give thanks to the Lord, so should we concerning our hope of eternal life.