The Unthankful Cause and Cure

I tried to make the case that being unthankful is actually a sin in a previous blog by highlighting the Luke 17 account of nine of ten lepers neglecting to thank Jesus for their miraculous healing.

But what is the cause of being unthankful, and is there a cure for it?

I’d like to briefly explore those two questions.

The Cause

What was it that caused those nine lepers to neglect to go back to Jesus and give Him thanks?

What was it that caused Adam and Eve, while living in perfection and enjoying intimate fellowship with God, to desire that one thing that was off limits – despite being surrounded by everything they could ever need?

What was it that caused the Israelites, after experiencing God’s miraculous deliverance from the Egyptians and seeing God’s daily provision, to focus on what they didn’t have and grumble and complain, rather than praise Him?

What causes such a heart of ingratitude?

As I was considering this question, I was greatly helped by a sermon Dr. John MacArthur preached several years ago.

He spoke at length about some potential causes of being ungrateful.

I would encourage you to read the entire sermon for yourself, but I want to share just a few things he outlined (with emphasis added) as they pertain to attitudes that may be causing an ungrateful heart.

MacArthur said, “It could be selfishness: ‘I don’t like my condition. I don’t like my circumstances. This is not what I want.’ That kind of selfishness can turn on God. It could be worldliness. You’re not content with God and what He provides and what He promises; you want more.”

He continued by saying:

It could be also that this deep heart sanctification has been interrupted by a critical spirit. You’re bitter, you’re negative, you have a sour attitude on life. … If this is unchecked in your life, it will destroy a thankful heart. It will blind your vision of God. It will warp your understanding of His purposes and make you miserable, and then make everybody around you miserable. This corrodes love and steals joy. It could be impatience. It could be that you just can’t wait to see God’s will unfold. … You want things fixed, and you want them fixed now, and you don’t like the fact that they’re not the way you would like them to be; and you want God to go to that issue immediately and take care of it, regardless of what His purpose might be in it.

Or MacArthur later pointed out, “[I]t could be just open rebellion. You’re not thankful because you don’t like what you have. You’re not joyful because you think you have reason to be sad.”

In John Piper’s devotional, The Root of Ingratitude, I was also encouraged, as he seemed to address the heart of the issue of being ungrateful.

Piper said:

[T]here is a very good reason that human beings by nature do not want to magnify God with thanksgiving or glorify him as their benefactor. The reason is that it detracts from our own glory, and all people by nature love their own glory more than the glory of God. At the root of all ingratitude is the love of one’s own greatness. For genuine gratitude admits that we are beneficiaries of an unearned bequest. We are cripples leaning on the cross-shaped crutch of Jesus Christ. We are paralytics living minute by minute in the iron lung of God’s mercy. We are children asleep in heaven’s stroller.

Piper continued by highlighting the human tendency to recoil at such thoughts of dependency.

“The natural person, apart from saving grace, hates to think of himself in these images: unworthy beneficiary, cripple, paralytic, child. They rob him of his glory by giving it all to God,” he wrote.

To sum it up, being unthankful boils down to a prideful heart and a lack of trust in God.

It is a lack of trusting His sovereignty – that He has you where He wants you.

It is a lack of trusting His provision – that He can take care of you in the midst of the circumstances.

It is a lack of trusting His power – that He is powerful enough to see you through.

“Gratitude is the fruit of grace, gratitude is the work of the Spirit, and gratitude is the only reasonable approach to life if you understand the sovereign purpose of God,” MacArthur said. “As Christians, we often sin the sin of ingratitude. We want what we don’t have; we don’t want what we do have. We are jealous or envious of what someone else might have; we feel somehow that we have been left out, that we’ve gotten the short end of the stick; and for a believer to feel that way is to call into question the divine purpose of God for one’s life.”

The Cure

What do we do if we find ourselves constantly complaining, being critical of everything, and generally unthankful?

First, we repent.

We repent and ask God to forgive us.

Then, we ask God to direct our thoughts toward all He has done for us.

We look to the Scriptures we’ve neglected, which is what causes us to become unthankful in the first place.

There are many passages in God’s Word that direct our hearts, minds, and attitudes toward thankfulness, but I’d like to highlight just three, with emphasis added.

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, (Ephesians 5:18-20).

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7).

In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

I highlighted those three passages because the Apostle Paul makes it clear that there are no conditions on a heart of gratitude for the believer – Christians should be thankful at all times for all things.

So, what’s the cure for being unthankful?

The cure is simple. Not easy, but simple.

The cure for being unthankful is to take our attention off ourselves and our circumstances, fix our eyes on the Lord, and begin to offer Him praise and thanksgiving.

As I wrote in the previous blog about the lepers, “… when we recall Christ’s mercy in rescuing us from the deserved penalty of our sins, and His grace in granting us an undeserved eternity with Him, the only logical response is to do as that lone leper and fall on our face at Christ’s feet and give Him thanks.”