Wednesday, May 1, 2019

What To Do About An Attitude Of Ingratitude

Where are the other nine?” – Luke 17:17

Have you ever done something for someone, perhaps at great cost to yourself, and they treated what you did with ingratitude?  Like your sacrifice was nothing. Perhaps even why did you not do more that you did.  Like a rug under their feet.  It was nothing to them.  Ingratitude is one of those things that can stir up dark feelings in us.  It can cause you to question if perhaps you had made a mistake in helping in the manner that you did.  Maybe even make you angry and not want to help in that way ever again.  When Jesus healed the 10 Lepers, only one came back and thanked him.

Then as He [Jesus] entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” So when He saw them, He said to them, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, ‘Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?’” – Luke 17:12-19

Jesus asked ‘Where are the other nine?’  The one who came back was a Samaritan.  There is a subtle point.  The ones that you would think would be most grateful … the Jews .. were not.  It was the one who was rejected by the Jews that showed his gratitude.  What we do should be motivated by our desire to do the Father’s will and not to do good things trusting that somehow we might get credit for doing it.  If our motivation is the latter, then how others respond will matter to us.  If it is the former, then our only concern is that we are doing the Father’s will, bringing glory to Him, and not how people respond to whatever it is that we did. How we respond to their responses to our Christian service will depend upon our motivation for doing whatever it is that we have done.

For I [Jesus] have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of Him who sent Me.” – John 6:38

Here is a rule of thumb.  If ingratitude frustrates you or makes you want to not serve, understand that you are not doing the will of the Father, but you are actually trying to be good on your own.  Seeking the praise of men.

Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.” – Matthew 6:1-4

You need to check your motivation.  Resist the temptation to rob God of His Glory.  It doesn’t matter how the world responds to your service.  We serve because it is the Father’s will.  Leave the rest up to God.  Think about it.

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