Romans 12:16-21
We give God the glory for bringing us to the New Year 2025, and, as it is customary for us, we are here to give thanks to God for making us to witness this year. By “thanksgiving,” we mean a heartfelt and cheerful acknowledgment of favours bestowed on us by others.
But as simple as thanksgiving, or gratitude, may appear, it is not as natural for men to do as being unthankful or ungrateful. Some say that ingratitude is the most common of sins. Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:2 that ingratitude is one of the marks of godlessness in the end times.
According to the Roman philosopher, Cicero, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues, but the parent of all the others.” The opposite of this statement is also true. That is, ingratitude is not only the greatest of sins, but the parent of all others.
Paul’s statement in Romans 1:21 actually implies that ingratitude is the first step away from God. He said that despite what men can see about God in Creation, they choose to reject Him, and the first step away from God is that “they did not give thanks to Him.”
Ingratitude was the first step away from God for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. At the root of the very first sin was the fact that they weren’t grateful for what God had given them; instead, they focused on what God had not given them. Ingratitude took them down the road that led to sin, and death, and every evil thing that has happened in this whole world ever since. Ingratitude was their first step away from God. And ingratitude can be our first step away from God too.
When we don’t recognize that life is a gift from God; that every day He gives us sunshine, and water, and food, and provision of all kinds, and health and strength to work. There is no such thing as a “self-made man” in this world! Nobody ever made himself! Nobody ever became anything without a multitude of blessings from God which enabled him to do what he’s done. But many people refuse to recognize God, and all that He has done for them. Ingratitude takes them away from Him. And as Romans 1 shows us, once a person starts down the road away from God, that road ends up in some pretty ugly places. But the first step down that road is ingratitude.
Sometimes even Christian people allow ingratitude to turn them away from God. We experience one disappointment in life; one loss; one time of deprivation; one experience we don’t understand — and we toss everything else God ever did for us out the window, and turn away from Him. Instead of thanking Him for everything He has given us, we get angry at Him for the one He didn’t — or that He seemed to take away.
And it’s not only our relationship with God that this affects. Ingratitude will poison virtually every area of your life if you let it. Ingratitude can be the first step away from a marriage: when you don’t appreciate all the good ways God has blessed you through your husband or wife, and like Adam and Eve in the Garden, you focus on that one thing that’s not good — and ingratitude begins to turn your heart away from your spouse. The same thing can be true between children and their parents — or really any relationship: if you’re ungrateful for all the positive things, and just focus on some negative, it can be the first step to the destruction of that relationship.
Ingratitude can be the first step away from happiness on the job: if you’re not thankful for all the good aspects of your job; how it provides for you, and instead focus on some problem, or some promotion you didn’t get, or some employee you don’t get along with, and you let that root of bitterness take hold of you and make you dissatisfied, when there’s really so much good about it. We can do the same thing in the church too. It applies to any situation. Ingratitude can poison virtually every area of your life if you let it.
But you have to let it. Because it is a choice. You choose whether you will be grateful, or ungrateful, to God for all that He has done for you. That’s what this verse shows us: ingratitude is the first step away from God.
Second, gratitude is the first step back to God! So, what do we do? If ingratitude is the first step away from God, then the first step back to Him is gratitude! Be thankful. Appreciate what God has given you. This is why Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving.” Gratitude is the door that brings you into the presence of God. That is why the Bible is so full of commands to give thanks to God: Psalm 95:2, “Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving;” Psalm 136:1, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” And there are commands like that to thank God all through the book of Psalms.
We are instructed to thank God throughout the New Testament too: Colossians 3:17, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father;” 1 Thess. 5:18, “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” We could literally take our whole time today, just reading all the verses in the Bible on thanksgiving. It is all over the Scripture. And the reason it is all over all the Scripture is that it is so important.
Gratitude ushers you into the presence of God; ingratitude whisks you away. So, we need to purposefully commit ourselves to give God thanks. It immediately brings us a step closer to God every time we do it: it reminds us of Who He is, and what He has done for us, and it totally changes our attitude, when we give thanks.
Thankfulness is one of the most life-changing attitudes there is. A lot of us are in the habit of always looking for the flaw, for the weakness, for the mistake, in every situation — and if that’s what you’re in the habit of doing, you will never be satisfied; because there will always be something to be unhappy or complain about. People say things like: My job is pretty good, but there is this one person there … My husband has done all these good things — but he still didn’t do that one chore he keeps saying he’ll get around to … My child is great about a lot of things, but there is one errand he’s yet to run for me.
It goes for the church too: there’s probably at least one thing about every church that will bother you. If you’re looking for perfection, you will never find it: not in a husband, not in a wife, not in a child, not in a friend, not in a job, not in a church — not even in yourself! If all you ever do is look for the negatives, you will never be happy; you will always be dissatisfied, and you will always be miserable — and you will likely make all those around you miserable too, by the way! If all you ever do is look for the negative, you will always find it, because nothing is perfect in this world. And so, you will always be unhappy.
What, then, can you do if you are one of those people for whom it takes only one negative thing to make them unhappy even when they have so many other good things in their life to be thankful for? You need to learn to begin your day by thanking God. Start every day like that. It will change your life. Make gratitude your first step towards God, every morning. But it’s not just for the morning; or just once a day. Gratitude should be something you walk in all day long. Every time the devil tempts you to get you down about something — start thanking God again. We need to constantly cultivate an “attitude of gratitude.” It will make such a difference in our lives (and in the lives of those around us!) if we will.
And one more thing: let’s make sure we are grateful to God for the most important thing He’s given us: the forgiveness of our sins through Jesus Christ. God designed us to know and love Him (something ELSE we can be grateful for!) but the problem is, we all separated ourselves from God by our sins. That should have been the end of the story, and we should have all been found guilty and sent off for judgment and hell — but God was merciful to us (something ELSE we can be thankful for!) and He sent Jesus to die on the cross to pay for our sins — the greatest gift that was ever given! Because of what Jesus did, we can be forgiven for all our sins.
Jesus is the best and most important gift God ever gave us. To benefit from this gift, you have to personally admit your sins, be willing to turn away from them with God’s help, and ask Jesus to save you. If you will do that, He will forgive any sin you have ever committed. Romans 6:23 says: “The free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” That is the best thing we have to be thankful for! If you know this is true for you, you ought to thank God every day for it. Go ahead and thank Him for your home, your job, your business, your studies, your church, the privilege of witnessing the New Year 2025, and for whatever else you’re grateful for. But be sure you especially thank Him for the forgiveness He gives you in Jesus.
And some day when you don’t feel like there’s much else to be thankful for, you can always give Him thanks for that. No matter how bad a day you’re having; your sins are forgiven; you have a home in heaven! You can always be thankful for that! And if you’ve never really asked Jesus to forgive you, and make you a Christian, take your first step towards God today: Thank Him for what He did for you on the cross. Say, God, I know I’ve sinned and I don’t deserve to go to heaven. But thank You that Jesus died on the cross for me. Save me. And then say “Thank You God, for saving Me!” Take your first step towards God today, by thanking Him for sending Jesus to save you!
But if you don’t thank God for what He did for you, what an ungrateful wretch you are, honestly. God sent Jesus to die on the cross, to pay for your every sin — and you ungratefully turn Him away? I promise you; if you do that, there will be no forgiveness for you, only the judgment of God for your ingratitude for His incomparable gift. Either gratitude will be your first step towards God; or ingratitude will be your first step away from Him. And that’s especially true of salvation. Take your first step towards God today. Receive the greatest gift He gave you in Jesus, and thank Him for it.
But it’s not only true for salvation, but also for every area of your life. Let gratitude be your first step towards God. It will change your life if you will walk every day of your life, starting from this year, with a thankful heart. Gratitude can make the worst situation you are in, a place of worship and thanks. And ingratitude can make a living hell out of paradise. The question is: which one will you choose?
In conclusion, some years ago, a man named Jack Hinton was on a short-term mission trip to the island of Tobago, and he was leading worship at a leper colony there. During the service, they were asking for requests for songs to sing out of the hymnal. One would ask for this song, and another for that. At one point Hinton asked if there was anyone else who had a request. One woman raised her hand and said she had a song she wanted to sing. Like many of the others there, this woman was a leper. But Hinton said hers was “the most hideous face I had ever seen.” The woman’s nose and ears were entirely gone. The disease had destroyed her lips as well. When she raised her hand in the air to request the song, there were no fingers on it, because they had all been eaten away by the leprosy.
But with her fingerless hand raised in the air she asked: ‘Can we sing ‘Count Your Many Blessings?’” Hinton said he was so overcome by emotion he could hardly sing the song. After the service, one of his team members came to him and said: “Jack, I guess you’ll never be able to sing that song again.” He said, “Yes I will — but I’ll never sing it the same way again.” If a fingerless woman in a leper colony can “Count her many blessings,” and worship God for all He’s done for her, then surely you and I can count our many blessings too! It will change our lives if we will. Let’s make gratitude our first step towards God — today, and every day!
Rev. Kayode Ilupeju,
Good News Baptist Church,
47/49, Olufemi Road,
Off Ogunlana Drive,
Surulere, Lagos.
Tel.: 0803-302-1008
