Misplaced Thankfulness

© 2023 by Tom Boynton (editing by Kathy Boynton)

“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.  For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,  And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Matthew 24:37-39)

In this passage Jesus Christ describes all the people who died when God sent the flood of Noah’s day.  Many of the things in which they were engaged were things for which one can legitimately be thankful.  We each eat food and drink liquid every day.  We may even be thankful for those things.  Many of us are thankful for the wife we married on our wedding day.  Even today, I repeatedly thank the Lord for my wife, Kathy, whom I married over 50 years ago.  She has been, and still is, an incredible blessing from the Lord.

Perhaps the people of Noah’s day were thankful as they enjoyed eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage.  However, they did not give thanks to the Lord who had provided those blessings.  Today, in a similar manner, most fail to give glory to the one true God from whom all blessings come.

Building the ark was a mammoth task.  During the many years Noah and his sons were building it, the ark gave warning of the coming judgment.  But no one heeded that warning except the eight individuals of Noah’s immediate family.  When God’s appointed time for judgment arrived, “…the flood came and took them all away…” (Matthew 24:39).  There was no further opportunity to repent or board the ark.

I often hear folks expressing thankfulness to various groups that have blessed them.  They may even thank individual family members for their help.  Far less often do I hear people thanking the Lord for their blessings.  Even when they do, they sometimes thank “the gods” rather than the one and only triune God of creation.  There is an old popular song which repeats the words.  “I did it my way.”  The writer of that song seemed to scorn the idea of obeying or giving thanks to God Himself.

If you’re thankful for anything, to whom are you thankful?  Have you repented of sin and trusted the one and only Son of God, Jesus Christ, as your Savior?  If you don’t seek and thank Him in this life, you’ll never be thankful for anything again once life has ended.

 

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