How God Revealed the Ingratitude of My Own Heart

We have just posted a new sermon called How God Revealed the Ingratitude of My Own Heart. Here’s an excerpt:

A few years ago if you had asked me, “Are you a grateful person?” I suppose I would have said that I am about as grateful as the next person. And from the standpoint of our text, that would be a true statement. We are all unthankful by nature because we all take for granted the goodness of the Lord. We think God owes us something when in fact he owes us nothing at all.

God showed me that in my own heart, I was guilty of the sin that lies at the heart of all other sins—ingratitude. When we are not thankful for what we have received, we open the door to every other sin imaginable.

The final point I wish to make is that gratitude is first and foremost a matter of the heart. It’s not about what we do or don’t do. It is the heart that must be changed. After all, we may do many good deeds and yet do them grudgingly, out of a sense of duty, or in order to win God’s favor, as if mercy is earned and not given. I have learned and am learning that gratitude is a gift first and foremost, a matter of the heart, and it flows down to us, dropping like the gentle rain from heaven. In fact, mercy and gratitude always go together. What starts as mercy in heaven ends as gratitude on earth.