This week, gather with family. Wrap yourself in Thanksgiving warmth. Pause to reflect, watch football, and eat.
And try to be grateful. Not just acknowledge Thanksgiving Day, but actually try to be grateful. Because, you may have noticed, it seems like we are not really very grateful these days.
There might be a reason for that.
In the last of his letters preserved in the Bible, Paul described to his young friend Timothy characteristics of what culture would be like as history draws to a close. His brief description is poignant, unnerving, and disturbing, and it’s relevant to us for the way it pictures our place in history.
And as Paul characterizes the degrading conditions of a culture in decline, tucked into the center is a trait we might overlook but which stands out for the fact that it is so easy to skip without grasping the significance of it. See if you can catch what I am talking about (Hint: think of Thanksgiving):
Paul writes, “But mark this: 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, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people” (2 Tim. 3:1-5).
A sign of the worst of times
Did you see it? “Ungrateful” (v.2). You will know we are nearing the last gasp of history because gratitude is a thing of the past, swept away in a sea of selfishness, sin, and pride.
And I think that Paul particularly had in mind the ingratitude of younger generations. He had just stated that being “disobedient to parents” was a trend of the last days, so I believe that triggered in his mind another characteristic of perhaps the final generation to precede the end of time.
That generation, Paul says, would be the most ungrateful so far.
In an excellent article on the Public Discourse website, educator and author Jeremy Adams offers that this trend of younger generations toward ingratitude directly aligns with the loss of our American distinctives which were grounded in a Judeo-Christian worldview. Now, as he puts it, young Americans are being taught the “ideologies of ingratitude,” such as Marxism and socialism, that have taken hold in our culture.
He’s right. These ideologies survive by breeding ingratitude and fostering anger by forcing young minds to focus on what they don’t have rather than what they do have. They teach entitlement at any cost.
Unbiblical ideologies encourage younger generations to give up on gratitude and to succumb to ingratitude, selfishness, and greed.
What is true gratitude?
Gratitude thrives in a healthy biblical worldview. Why? Because true gratitude is an act of faith, and it requires an object greater than us, a Source for the goodness we experience.
By “true gratitude” I mean gratitude that isn’t dependent on your circumstances or emotions (1 Thess. 5:18). To be truly grateful, we have to believe that Someone has chosen to be good to us, wants the best for us, is gracious to us, compassionate and merciful, and so the circumstances do not dictate whether we are thankful or not.
True gratitude requires a benevolent Creator (James 1:17).
Why do we lack gratitude?
Gratitude is impossible if we lack faith in our Creator. It’s just that simple. In Marxism, there is no God who deserves our gratitude. In socialism, government has taken the place of God as the source of our provision, purpose, and identity.
So, to restore gratitude, and to pass it along to the next generation, we have to restore a biblical understanding of God as our Creator, of the value of life, of God’s love and goodness toward us, and a healthy sense of service to Him.
When the Bible speaks of gratitude, of Christians being grateful to God, it associates being thankful to giving glory to God. So, gratitude is an act of worship, of acknowledging that nothing we have that is good would be possible if it were not for His loving benevolence toward us (James 1:17, Luke 17:11-17, Ps. 50:23, 118:24).
Gratitude is a basic biblical value, incremental to a healthy Christian life. And ingratitude is a sin, and when a nation fosters ingratitude, it has abandoned that basic value.
How can you restore gratitude?
It begins with you. Gratitude is a personal perspective. And it’s critical for a healthy Christian life.
As you approach Thanksgiving, take time to meditate on these five truths. And be sure to talk to your children about what it means to be grateful and why it is so important:
- God is always good to us.
It is impossible for God to be other than good to us. That does not mean we always get what we want, but that what we get is always right and good for us in the long run. “The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made” (Ps. 145:9).
- Gratitude is an act of faith.
We experience God’s goodness to the same extent that we trust Him, and we walk with Him through life. “How abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you, that you bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in you” (Ps. 31:19).
- Gratitude is not an emotion. It is a choice.
And our choice to be grateful arises out of our trust in our God. It has nothing to do with our circumstances. For that reason, we do not give thanks for our circumstances, but we give thanks to the God who is with us in all of our circumstances and reminds us that He is always watching out for us. “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess. 5:18).
- Gratitude is a lifestyle.
We give thanks not only in the way we speak but also in the way we live. “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col. 3:17).
- Gratitude requires humility.
Expressing gratitude reminds us that we are not entitled to good things, nor do we deserve an easy life. Gratitude reminds us that God is gracious and good to us even though we do not deserve it. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).
So remember these things. Pass them along to the next generation. Let God know you are grateful for who He is and all He does!
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
James 1:17