Thanksgiving for the Unthankful

Well we're just a couple of days away from the most thankful day of the year in the United States, Thanksgiving Day! Most of us are looking forward to the big meal and the delight of being with friends and family. Surely, there's a lot to be thankful for. I could write a list but we all know we've got a lot going on for us even though life is often hard. But the giving of thanks doesn't really come naturally to us if we're honest, does it? A lot of us go through the motions. Inside, we feel stressed, bitter, agitated, jealous of others, etc. If I'm going to be honest I have to say I'm not that thankful a good bit of the time. When things don't go the way I wanted them to I don't feel thankful. When I get rude customers I don't feel thankful. When depression strikes and I hole up in my room trying to anesthetize myself with movies or TV shows I certainly don't feel thankful. When my bank account is dwindling I don't feel thankful. When I perceive someone that I think of as less intelligent than myself getting ahead I don't feel thankful. Unthankfulness is a fairly common thing in my heart when I really get down to it. And so I come to this time of year noting that there's a sizeable discrepancy between what *ought* to be going on in my heart and what *is* going on in my heart. God urges his people to be thankful. Thankfulness is supposed to be SOP for the Christian. So what do we do when we recognize the gulf that exists between God's will and the status quo? Do we try harder to feel thankful? That's like a person without tastebuds sitting down with a bowl of honey and saying "I'm GOING to taste this honey! And it's GOING to taste sweet!" and trying to will the mouth to experience the sweetness of honey. That's insanity. Simply put, we can't make ourselves feel what God requires us to feel. So then do we despair? In one way, yes, we absolutely should despair. But when we despair, it's a beautiful thing. Because there's grace for people who despair. There's grace for people who know what's going on with them and that it isn't good. Look with me at Luke 6:35. "Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, *for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil*." Take that in. Grace. Jumpstarts. Thankfulness. You cannot put the cart before the horse with this. It's so important for your eyes to first jump to the Lord being kind to the ungrateful and the evil. If you try harder to be grateful and good you remove yourself from the group it says God loves in this verse. It doesn't say "for he is kind to the grateful and the good." Read the rest of Luke 6. Jesus has just finished going through an extremely implausible list of commandments. You'll never live up to those commands by trying harder to live up to them. It's so important to take in that last verse. He is kind... to the ungrateful... and the evil. He lends without hoping to receive it back. When you take one thing from God he's bound and determined to make sure you leave with two things. You cannot take advantage of a God like this. This is a God who is discontent to simply let you take what you want. He wants so much to bless you with greater love than you can imagine. The only way you can foil his plan is by refusing to take the extra that he insists you take. Hell is the result of taking only what you want from God and refusing the exorbitant extra he wants to give you. So if you're feeling unthankful this Thursday, give thanks for this! He is kind to the unthankful.