We live in a time which are dangerous which Paul prophesied and said that one characteristic of it was that people who had a form of godliness, that is professing Christians, but deny the power that makes them truly godly. One of the mentioned characteristics is that they are ungrateful. 2Tim 3:1-5. Note that this whole passage is one paragraph and the full stop is in verse 5. Therefore, all those characteristics mentioned are people who profess to be Christians.
The power that makes us to be truly godly is the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in Acts 1:8 that when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, we will receive power to be His witnesses. Being a witness is different from witnessing. Witnessing is by speech but being a witness is primarily by our lives and then our speech. Our lives are to witness Jesus, in other words, when we get filled with the Holy Spirit, the evidence of is that when people look at us they will see something of Jesus in our lives.
In Eph 5:18-20, we are told to be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit, and this will lead on to our hearts being filled with thanksgiving to God. Jesus said in Mat 10:42 that whoever gives a cup of cold water to one of even the least disciples, will not lose his reward. Jesus remembers even the smallest mercies that anyone shows to a disciple of His and has a reward for such.
In Mat 25:36-40, He says that whatever is done to the least of his disciples was done unto him and therefore a reward for the righteous who did anything for His disciples. The Jesus of the bible does not forget even the smallest thing we do unto Him, that is, any of His disciples. And this is what the Holy Spirit seeks to show us and then transform us into. 2Cor 3:17-18. When we are truly filled with the Holy spirit, we will naturally become grateful to people who do us even the smallest thing. We will not take anything for granted.
Many people claim to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but their lives are filled with murmuring and complaining and faultfinding in people; no matter the experience they had, the lack of power in their lives shows that they are not filled as they claim.
Jesus told His disciples Mathew 20:26-28 that whoever wanted to be greatest must be the servant and whoever wants to be first must be a slave, and He says that that is why He came. The Holy Spirit comes to transform into the image of Christ, and we come to an awareness that we are to serve others and not to wait to be served by others like a king. A slave has no rights of His own. He has no salary. He is owned by His master, he has to work for his master and his master does not have to do anything for Him. Realizing that he deserves nothing, this will make him very grateful to anyone who shows him the least mercies. And this is how we are to be as disciples of Jesus, we naturally should be very grateful to anyone who does us the least mercies.
As I conclude, Jesus said that whatever was done to a disciple was done to him and Paul said that whatever we do, we should do as unto the Lord, Col 3:23. This means whatever we do, it is for the Lord, therefore, if we expect any thanks, it should not be from the people we do it for, but from Jesus. Just like if you worked in shop, you will not be paid by shop2.
Therefore, let us learn to be grateful to men for whatever they do for us and at the same time, let us learn not to expect thanks for anything we do for anyone but only from God.
You are blessed to be a blessing
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@blessed mambo
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