I am not thankful!

With times growing closer to the return of our savior Jesus Christ we see, even in scripture that these will not be good times.

In Paul’s letter to Timothy we see that he warned him that things will be tough and that in the end times people will have a total shift in their behavior:

2 Timothy 3:2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, without love of good,…

Basically it sounds like society today. Even so it likely was the same for Timothy and Paul in their day too. Those behaviors are the result of not having Godly principles in our minds and hearts and often they will lead to bad things to come for those who are doing them and those around them too.

The world around us feeds unthankfulness in many ways. Promoting ideas and products in ways where we think we need them but are not really essential to life. The business world especially thrives on such motivations as ways to advertise and sell. Often giving you the impression that you cannot partake in society without them. If you are thankful for what you have it is harder to sell those things to you. Thankful also means looking to the one that provided them to you

While we look at Thanksgiving we often try to look at things we are thankful for and that is very appropriate. We should always look at the blessings of our lives. We all have them.

One of the sayings out there is that if you have clothes, food, and a roof over your head you are better than 75 percent of those in the world. Still most people who have all those often take them for granted. Leaning on the work of their hand or looking to society as something owed to them.

One thing we should also look at in our lives is a lack of gratitude. This can also be looked at during this time of year too.

Years ago my Aunt Jean and Uncle George used to like taking me and my 2 siblings out for dinner and often to somewhere to buy us food and clothes, sometimes even toys when we persuaded them enough. Over the years we took it for granted and even at times did not want to go with them. At times we were ungrateful for this continuous blessing we had in our lives because it seemed it would always be there. We did not have a lot of money as a family so this was my aunt’s way of helping us. She loved us and gave what little she had to the grandkid of her sister. Eventually both Aunt Jean and Uncle George died and all that ceased. Today we look back on those times and for myself wish I could have enjoyed and cherished them more than I did. The full scope of what they did and why they did it wasn’t realized until after it was gone and we all were adults struggling with our own families.

Thankfulness is at the center of a Godly life. We should be thankful for basically everything we have, as all of it, including the bad, were ordained by God for our benefit. Even our trials are supposed to be welcome in our lives as our friends!

A lack of gratitude ends up being a gateway for carnal emotions. This often includes most of all bitterness, anger, depression, and sadness. When you realize this fact you can also see why the world suffers from a lack of gratitude. Oftentimes that lack is fed by those emotions too in a destructive circle.

So in the days and times ahead think about the things you are thankful for and also areas you may be lacking gratitude and work on those areas.

Working on those areas includes realizing the gifts they are and can be, That God ordained them, and they can easily be taken away.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you!

Your Brother in Christ,

Steve Koenig