Ingratitude.  We’ve all seen it in the child who is given a birthday gift…a really fabulous, valuable gift.

She doesn’t open the card first to see who it’s from.  She rips the gift open and upon it NOT being what she expected, shows no appreciation to the giver.

Her mother, sensing the surprise and an expectation of gratitude from the giver for this undeserved, valuable gift, sweetly says to her daughter, “Wow, what a nice gift!  Isn’t it a nice gift, honey?”  Her daughter replies, “Sure”, then nonchalantly grabs the next gift in the pile.

Mom, embarrassed at her daughter’s ingratitude, hints again.  “Sweetie, let’s read the card together and see who it’s from!”  But her daughter is already tearing through the next three gifts, tossing them aside, clueless and indifferent.

Finally her mother, frustrated and mortified, exclaims, “Just say thank you!”  Her daughter turns to the expectant giver and with no feeling or sincerity, mutters, “Thanks.”

You may be picturing a little girl that you know.  But this is actually the state of too many people in too many church seats today…maybe even yourself, if you’re honest.

Too many of us enter the church doors, ready to consume and see what’s in it for us.

We wait for the right people to greet us and make us feel welcome.  We hope for the right songs with the right feels, expecting the right traditions and the right sermon that gives us just enough reassurance that we’re doing just fine.  We are ready to consume.

As we sit in church, God’s Word is read and we are presented with valuable truths…priceless, really.  Salvation.  Hope. Love. Conviction. The lost.  But because we are living life on “consumer mode”, each truth is briefly glanced at before casting aside in apathy or disappointment.

“It’s not what I want.  It doesn’t fit my sensibilities.  It doesn’t promote my lifestyle or social cause.  It doesn’t make me feel good and it doesn’t revolve around the most important person in the room: ME.  It is asking more than I’m willing to give.  My good name is on the line.  My reputation is on the line.  My very life is on the line.  Nope.”

In other words, God’s truth for the consumer disappoints and ingratitude seeps in.

And yet, when the pastor calls you to give thanks, you do it.  You don’t do it from a heart of true gratitude, but because you were told to.  “Thank you, God…” you recite like the scolded child to the gracious giver.  Meanwhile your heart is onto what’s “next”.

If you had been the giver of the gift to the child, would you feel appreciated by her “thanks”?

So how much more does the all-knowing God of the universe, the one who sees the very motives of your heart, sense ingratitude with your lip service?

When you come to church on Sunday and recite the right words, but your real life is a testimony of ingratitude, consumerism, entitlement, and discontent, you ARE that child at the birthday party.

We can all agree that “thank you” is meaningless without a truly grateful heart.

So then, when it comes to the ingratitude we show towards God, we must ask ourselves this question:  Is it that the gift isn’t truly that valuable or am I actually undervaluing the gift?

As the gift-giver to the little girl, you would never say “Oh, the gift I gave must not actually be valuable.”  After all, you paid for it yourself.  You KNOW how valuable it actually is.  Instead, you’d say, “Oh, she must not understand how valuable the gift is!  If she did, she’d react quite differently!”  Yeah, that’s us, friends!

If you struggle with a life of reluctant, half-hearted “thank you’s” to God, these are questions you must be daring enough to ask yourself: “Is my ingratitude based on reality or my perception of reality?”

Are you believing that God’s truth, forgiveness, grace, and sovereignty are not all they’re cracked up to be?  Are you believing that they are significantly less valuable than expected and worthy to be cast aside with all other disappointments?

Or, perhaps, is there something amiss in your evaluation of the gift?

Could it be that the lies of this consumer culture and sinful world have convinced you the gift of God’s truth is significantly less valuable than it is?

Could it possibly be true that it’s not the gift that’s the problem, but your own faulty, deceived view of it?

Here’s a reality check:  God has given us the greatest gift the world has ever seen:  his only Son Jesus.  He has also given believers HIMSELF through the Holy Spirit.  He has given us salvation, purpose, protection, love…these gifts are extremely valuable.

He’s also given us the unconventional gifts of suffering, struggle, perseverance, the building of character.  These are the hardest ones to take hold of and be grateful for.  But in James 1, a portion of scripture dedicated to the testing of our faith, these are called “good and perfect gifts”.

So could our lack of worshipful, humble, on-our-faces gratitude, even lacking in the smallest degree, be as simple as not valuing the gift for what it really is?  The answer is YES.

In addition, when we have a skewed view of ourselves in relation to God’s gifts, our sense of entitlement rises.  We begin to think we either deserve the gifts OR that we deserve even better than what God provides.  Both lead to disappointment.

We all, to varying degrees, fail to give God the gratitude he is due.

And the ante is up when our daughter is looking at our response to God’s goodness and gifts.  None of us can ever adequately express it.  But we can begin to look hard at our hearts and the ingratitude lurking there.  We can be honest and ask God, “What lies are keeping me from understanding how valuable your gifts are?  Forgive me. Show me.  Open my eyes.”  And he will.

Are you daring enough to receive God’s response? Only then, by God’s grace, can we truly cast aside the heart of the spoiled child instead of the gifts from the greatest Gift-giver of all.

Where do you struggle with ingratitude towards God?  How has God opened your eyes?  Comment below!