[Rick Shabi] You've heard of Marcus Cicero. He was one of the great philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome, and he made a statement that everyone should take note of and remember. It should become a guiding principle in our lives. He said, "Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but it's the parent of all others." How true that saying is. Having a grateful attitude affects our outlook on life and how we treat the world we live in and each other. It leads to a positive and optimistic sense of well-being. On the other hand, not being grateful has a detrimental effect on us. God makes this clear in Romans 1. Note these striking scriptures in verses 21 and 22. There He says, "Because, although they knew God, they didn't glorify Him as God, nor were they thankful, and they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools." They became fools.
God says a lot in those four words, "Nor were they grateful." As a result, they became fools. In a little bit, we'll see exactly what God means by the fools they became. Gratitude, then, is a virtue that leads to sound thinking and good things. But an attitude of ingratitude leads to destruction, misery, and death. How important, then, is gratitude? It's a trait that has been abandoned by so many who take everything we have for granted. While we observe Thanksgiving in America, how many really stop, not just on that day but every day, and recognize God, who made this earth and gave us all the physical things we need to survive and thrive? Our forefathers recognized and appreciated and gave God credit for the land and resources we have.
Remember this quote from Abraham Lincoln? Here's what he said in 1863, as he called for a day of national fasting and prayer, he says, "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We've grown in numbers. We've grown in wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us. And we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us. It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."
You know, recently, we've been heartened to hear the newly elected President of the United States speak of religion, the Bible, and the needed return to God if we are to heal this nation. We hope that he might quote these very same words of Abraham Lincoln to the people of the United States this Thanksgiving, to remind us that none of us are the benefactors of living in this nation because of our own superior knowledge. It's God who provides. He has provided because of the obedience of a man named Abraham who lived thousands of years ago. He loved God. He worshiped God, and he obeyed Him. And God made him the father of many nations which can still be found on earth today. America, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, you are among those nations. There's a reason you are richly blessed, and that reason you can find in the Bible.
You want to know why your nation is blessed? Watch the short recommended video at the end of this one. But the citizens of these nations have been turning away from God. The woke and far-left mindset of the past years, where God was cast aside, people not even wanting Him to be part of any discussion, show the arrogance and misdirection of our leaders. Those ideas and that ideology lead to a nation's demise and destruction. Don't be like them. Gratitude, worshiping God and Jesus Christ in spirit and truth and following the example Jesus Christ set are necessary ingredients of living a grateful life, being thankful in everything. A life that leads to happiness, peace, and abundance.
Notice what God says in Ezekiel 18:31-32. "Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why would you die?" For God says, "I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies, therefore, turn and live." You want good things in life? Turn to God and practice being grateful for what you have. Now, do you want to see what happens and what life is like when people don't glorify God, when people don't acknowledge Him and are not thankful to Him? Look at these verses in Romans and note how they describe our society and so many of the attitudes and lifestyles we see around us today, and how many were on full display during the recent presidential election.
We read what happens to people like this in the first verses of Romans 1, where it says, "Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were they thankful." Going on later in the Chapter, then, we read what the result of that attitude is like. Down in verses 24 and 25 it says, "Because of this, God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves. They exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and they worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever." That is, they left God and they set up idols for themselves, idols like gold, silver, the stock market, the economy, wealth, and the military. They trusted in things, trusted in themselves, and they trusted in government more than God.
Going on in verse 26, God says, "For this reason, He gave them up to vile passions." And then He goes on in the next verses to describe sexual depravity like we've seen promoted and exalted in recent years in our countries, unnatural sexual deviances. Today, we hear stories of sex trafficking, children being trafficked, people in jail, entertainers going on trial for these things, heinous things are going on. When we do such things, there are penalties that result. Take your Bible out and read these verses in Romans 1 and you will see why we are plagued with many of the sexual diseases we have today. God is not against sex. He created it, and He instructed how it was to be used as a blessing for mankind.
But going on in verses 28 to 32, it says, "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness. They're full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness. They are whisperers," which means they're slanderers, "haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning," that means without understanding. "They're untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, and unmerciful."
Wow, that's quite a list. But those are the attitudes we see prominently in America, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand today. Do you want to live in that world, or do you want to live a rich life, filled with purpose, meaning, and a future that's beyond anything this world has to offer? You've heard us say many times that God has a plan for mankind. Jesus Christ loves mankind. He gave His life for us. This isn't the world or life He wanted us to live when He created and died for us. His kingdom, which will be brought to this earth when Christ returns, will be a time of joy, peace, abundance, harmony, and good for all mankind. His way will be taught. Gratitude will be taught.
Parents, young and old alike, are you looking for answers? Are you looking for meaning and searching for truth? Do you know and sense there is something missing in the world today? Are you looking into the Bible and trying to figure it out and see what God has to say? What's missing in the world today is God and gratitude toward Him, the things which lead to a life of joy, peace, and safety that God wants for everyone. There is a better way than the way of the world, but you have to follow exactly what God says in the Bible. If you're looking for a full, purposeful life for you and your children, there is one church that teaches the real, plain truth and lives the principles Jesus lived and taught as preserved in the Bible.
Many churches in the world will teach you about Jesus, but they do not teach you to do what He clearly taught. They don't follow Christ, but they follow the way that leads to all these awful results of life that we've spoken of. You need to find the truth. You need to reject the lie. Seek the truth. Diligently seek it, and God will reward you. Get the right teacher. Find the right teacher that can help you learn and apply the truths of the Bible.
Visit us at ucg.org/gratitude. There you will find a few short videos that will help you understand the truth of the Bible, where you can turn to truth, and you can learn more about why the nation you live in is blessed or why you owe God your gratitude. We're here to help you become a true disciple of Christ as He commissioned His church to be. We look forward to meeting you.
