John 5:14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”
The man had no faith. He didn’t even know who Jesus was. Whether he felt comfortable in his status as a beggar or whether after thirty-eight years living as an invalid, he had simply given up hope, we don’t know. But we do know when Jesus told him to pick up his mat and walk, a miracle occurred.
Perhaps even more curious is the man’s response. You might think he would fall on his face and worship the One who set him free. Gratitude would wash over him like the healing waters of Bethesda he had been denied. How could someone experience such a complete restoration of his paralyzed body and still have a paralyzed heart? When Jesus saw him later, he even warned him to stop sinning. But this man used his now fully-functioning legs to run to the Jews and rat Jesus out.
Unthinkable!
But that’s what ingratitude does to us. It locks us into our own perspective and hinders us from recognizing God’s grace. It is both the cause and effect of our immobility. The less we give thanks, the more fixed on ourselves we become. Our failure to discern Jesus’ work in our lives turns us into cynics; it causes us to view the world with a skeptical eye.
I can’t overstate the importance of cultivating a life of gratitude. As we learn to give thanks in all things, we learn to see Jesus in every situation. We learn to recognize him even in the middle of pain’s paralysis, and in those times when it seems like everyone is jumping into the pool ahead of us.
Oh friend, don’t miss the thousands of opportunities every day you have to give God thanks. Let gratitude be the first thought in the morning when your (un-paralyzed) feet hit the ground. Let gratitude cap your last prayer at night for the privilege of living another day. Let it infuse each waking moment.
Don’t let ingratitude paralyze you. You have places to go and people to meet who need to hear why you’re so thankful.