Rev. George Ellis
Pastor’s Corner
Community, this is the Saturday after the Thanksgiving holiday. A time when we gathered with family to enjoy a time of sweet fellowship and giving of thanks to God for another year. We shared a scrumptious meal.
Nationally it was a time to give thanks for God’s blessings on the establishment of our nation and his providential hand in guiding us. Gratitude is a good thing, which means, “feeling or showing an appreciation of kindness; thankful.” And sometimes we verbally express it in words from our hearts;.
This should be all of us today. Some of us remember the story of the ten lepers whom Jesus met when he entered into Samaria (Luke 17:11-18); who when they saw him they stood afar off and cried, “Jesus, Master have mercy on us.” Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priest. And as they went, they were all cleansed, healed from their leprosy.
And one of them, only one, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, came and fell at his feet, and with a LOUD VOICE glorified God,” while the others went on their way. In this Jesus emphasizes the ingratitude of so many people when it comes to giving thanks to God. Quick to ask for favors; slow to give him thanks. And it’s not just God but it is people in general; people sometimes are slow in giving thanks; living in an entitled generation, people have lost their sense of appreciation and gratitude; we all feel it and we see it; hold the door open for some people and they will waltz right on in without saying “thank you!” stop your car in traffic holding up traffic to let some people out who otherwise would not be able to get out and they’ll pull out and look the other way.
The truth of the matter is we are living in a thank-less generation; not everybody now, but some; we were taught as children, at least my generation by our parents to say “thank you” when somebody gave you something; it’s in us because it was brought up in us; parents have felt the sting of thank-less children, when the parent bend over backward, sacrifice, go the extra mile and then some; do without things that they need to help their children, just to have their children have a thankless attitude; they forget all that their parents have done for them; and when they get old they place them in a nursing facility and forget them; how thankful they should be to have the parents that they have.
Christians, we are not exempt.
If we are not careful life will take the very thanks out of our hearts; it can have us bitter, resentful and ungrateful; we too can become entitled, taking our blessings for granted, thinking that God owe us something; we think that we are going to always have what we have, until we lose it; we can allow if we are not careful life’s hardships, disappointments to rob us of that which we ought to give to God every day of our lives.
Christians hear me this morning when I say if anybody ought to be thankful it ought to be the Christian; it should not be said that any Christian believer is thankless; that is not synonymous with who we are; when we got up this morning I wonder how many of us literally said to God “thank you!” when we opened our eyes is this the first thing that we did? and I wonder are we as quick to give thanks as we are to complain?
Friends, hanks should flow from our lips like breathing; and we shouldn’t wait until Thanksgiving Day! if you are a complainer this morning you need to change your attitude; I don’t think you realize just how blessed you are. Friends I believe, that if we THINK we will THANK! Because you can’t think on his goodness and not give thanks! Community, God don’t want us to be grumpy stumpy Christians.
Every church family has its Doubting Thomas or its Gloomy Gus. They talk negative and complain all the time; You can be feeling good until you get around them. They’ll have you with a headache you didn’t have and body aches too; “I was feeling good until I started talking with them!” To see them and listen to them is like witnessing an autopsy, or diving into a cold lake on a winter’s day.
God wants His family to be happy, joyful and thankful I don’t care what’s going on; the Bible says, “In everything give thanks: for this is God’s will concerning you (1 Thessalonians 5:18).”
I read about a man whose life was a disaster. He was miserable, broke, overweight, and on his second divorce living in a crumby apartment. He decided that his goal was to write one “thank you” note each day for the next year for a total of 365 thank you notes. He wanted to find a reason to be thankful and grateful every single day. He discovered that practicing gratitude can improve your overall well-being. He discovered things right under his nose to be thankful for.
Friends, maybe we need to write a “thank you” note each day for something we are thankful for. Let us all look into our “thank” account and see if we are bankrupt. And if so, today is a good day to make a deposit. Let us fall as his feet and say “Lord, I want to say thank you.”
The Rev. George Ellis is the pastor for Union Grove Missionary Baptist Church.
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November 26, 2021 at 10:22PM
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