For the most part, we live in a very ungrateful world. All around you can see examples of children being ungrateful for all their parents have done for them; workers not appreciating their jobs; Americans not appreciating the country they live in. Thankfulness seems to be in short supply.

For many people, gratitude is difficult because life is difficult. For others, gratitude is just not on their radar at all. Life is all about them, and they think they deserve whatever good comes to them, so being thankful just doesn’t fit in with their attitudes. And others are not thankful because they simply take for granted the good things in their lives. They just never stop to say thanks.

Do you remember this story from Luke 17:11-19:

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

We read that story, and we shake our heads at those nine guys who never said thanks. What’s the matter with them? Jesus healed them of a horrible disease, and they don’t even bother to return and express their gratitude? And note that Jesus finds it baffling, too. “Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”, he asks. Just one guy, and he wasn’t even a fellow Jew.

Why did nine go away without saying thanks? We aren’t told exactly why, but I can imagine they were so excited to be healed of leprosy that instead of thanking Jesus, they rushed right back into their lives, told their families they were healed, and picked up where they left off before their dreaded disease. It was all about them and the good news that they were healed. They just didn’t take the time or the effort to say thanks. They did not choose to be thankful.

You see, being thankful and expressing it are choices you and I make each day. Rarely does a day pass that doesn’t offer you at least one thankful moment. But I wonder, how many of your days—and mine—begin and end without one word of thankfulness coming from our lips? Jesus said, A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of (Luke 6:45). If our lips are not speaking words of thanksgiving, it’s because our hearts are not full of thankfulness. We speak what is in our hearts.

So, my challenge to you is to choose thankfulness every day. If you are a Christ-follower, this should be a no-brainer decision, because it is simply obeying the principles set down in God’s Word. Here are four examples, and there are many more:

Colossians 2:6-7: So, then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Ephesians 5:19b-20: Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5:18: Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 100:4: Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

So, I think we must conclude when we are truly ungrateful, either because life is hard, or we forget to be thankful, or we take our blessings for granted—whatever the reason may be—we are in disobe...