UNGRATEFUL WORLD
January 26, 2022
“Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). How do you train a child in the way that he should go? The answer is that it is not easy, it is very difficult! Why? Because we live in an ungrateful world. We are ungrateful to our Maker. We are ungrateful to our Creator. We are ungrateful to our God! In addition, we are ungrateful to our parents, we are ungrateful to our brothers and sisters who have helped us, we are ungrateful to our spouses, and we are ungrateful to everyone who has assisted us in the past. We no longer remember their kind and helpful acts. The only thing that we still remember is when they hurt our feelings, that’s about all that we could remember. That, I believe, was the reason why Jesus clearly said in Matthew 5:23-24, "Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, "leave your gift there before the altar and go your way. First, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” Have we done that, or do we think that God doesn’t remember what we did? Or, do we think that the Book of Life does not have a record of what we did? Really? Brothers and Sisters, there is no question that God sees offending someone’s feelings as a serious matter that must be resolved first before He will hear our prayer - "leave your gift there before the altar and go your way to see your brother or sister whom you have offended. In fact, Jesus implied let our gift or offering rot before the altar! First, be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.” God will not take care of these differences for us. We must step forward and resolve the differences with our brothers and sisters. We may have to apologize. Or we may ask them to forgive us before He will accept our offering and prayer. I see this as a way to self-redeem our sins. Why? Because Jesus was never obligated to redeem our sins since we own the sins! He did not commit the offenses, but we did!
Where do we learn from how to train a child in the way that he should go? The Muslims teach their children what their Al-Quran teaches them to do, Christians teach their children what their parents tell them what to do, the Buddhists, Hindus, etcetera teach their children at home according to the teachings of their own faith or religions. But most of the time, parents themselves teach their children the way that they, the parents, feel that their children should go. And most parents, unfortunately, lack the skill of teaching or raising their children since they themselves have no experience or skill in raising children. They have never gone to school and learned how to raise a family. They raise their children using the trial-and-error method like most new couples do when raising a new family. In other words, they are still learning and adjusting not only to having a new kid but adjusting to having a new husband or a new wife for many years to come. And I believe that the first few years of marriage are critical in determining whether or not the marriage will last longer than a couple of years. It requires love, patience, and lots of understanding - lots of them.
But most importantly, appreciation of what we do for one another must be generous. Teach one another what we need to know and do to make the marriage work.
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man [was] great in the earth, and [that] every intent of the thoughts of his heart [was] only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them. "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. (Genesis 6:5-8). Why do you think Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord? Why? Unless you are a slow learner you will agree with me that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord because he had followed His Commandments that He gave through Moses to our ancestors. Noah was totally obedient to God’s commandments, unlike most Christians of today who like to bargain with God about His laws. If they don’t like them, they flushed His commandments and laws in the toilet, and replace them with their own laws.
Finally, you would think that after God drowned the millions or billions of souls during the big flood this world would be a better place for everyone to live. NO, you are wrong! Noah’s descendants were just as bad or worse than those whom The Lord had destroyed during the big flood. Look at what they did to Jesus. They too have refused to follow His commandments, unlike Noah and his family. Who were they? They consist of a large group of UNGRATEFULS who have refused to follow God’s commandments. Jesus said in John 14:15, "If you love Me, keep My commandments".
What did these hypocrites do? They murdered Him and threw His commandments in the trash! Now we have no more Teacher who can teach us. Their names who murdered Him will not be found in the BOOK OF LIFE.
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