Putting the No into November – Part IV
INTRODUCTION – This month, we have been studying the prefix un – which negates the meaning of the root word. This week, if you had “unthankful” in the church betting pool, you are a winner! Who likes a negative Nellie? (Think Nellie Oleson of Little House on the Prairie fame or, if you are politically savvy, Nellie Ohr of Fusion GPS infamy.)
- LET US BE THANKFUL THAT WE CAN BEGIN WITH THE CHARACTER OF GOD
Luke 6:35 – God is blessedly different from us. If someone is ungrateful, it is almost automatic to call that person “an ungrateful wretch.” God thinks and thus acts differently. Of course, the parallelism of this verse reminds us that to be “unthankful” is to be “evil.” No matter what others may say, God insists that good and evil still exist.
- LET US BE THANKFUL FOR THE CLARITY OF GOD’S WORD
II Timothy 3:1-5 – As we saw in Luke 6:35, God does not “turn away”, for He cannot be led astray. Because we can easily be drawn into sin, we are commanded to “turn away.” Is being “unthankful” so bad that it deserves to be in this list? It is unwise to quibble with God. Let us think a bit. When we are unthankful, we become grumpy and eventually bitter. We grow discontented and thus question God’s goodness. Direction is crucial in the Christian life, and unthankfulness leads us away from God.
- LET US BE THANKFUL FOR GOD THE SON, JESUS CHRIST
Luke 17:11-19 – Only one out of ten returned to give thanks. Is my percentage any higher? I have observed (and I am sure that there are many exceptions) that it is easier to say thanks to customers and clients, a stranger who holds a door, or an unknown person at the other end of a phone call than to people close to us. Part of the issue is expectations; we expect, reasonably, that those close to us will do good things. Who is closer than Jesus? Even though we rightly anticipate good things from Jesus, we must focus intently on being more thankful to Him.
CONCLUSION – Together we have been thankful as we studied God’s Word. May we continue to be thankful people. Let us close with Luke 17:19. Have you been made entirely “whole” through a personal faith in Jesus Christ? If you ask Him for the gift of eternal salvation, He will assuredly grant it to you.