May 13, 2021 – Click here to listen
One of my readers wrote and asked me to write Words for the Day about his friend’s dilemma. It sounded pretty interesting and I don’t think this fellow is alone. I edited it a little for brevity but here is the dilemma.
“ . . . My friend is about as Constitutionally Conservative as you and I are. He is VERY well to do. He felt it his obligation to send his 4 children to College. They are all now in their late 30’s and early 40’s. He is very upset because his kids are “Trump-hating, Biden-voting little socialists”. He realizes his mistake in sending his offspring to the indoctrination centers.
He has a thriving business up north and is worth many millions. None of his kids want to step in to the business when he sheds his mortal coil. However, every year he sends his kids a substantial “stipend”. They don’t really seem to appreciate it and they seem to feel “entitled” to it.
This year he thought he would forgo it and tell them he donated it on their behalf as they seem to be OK with having other people’s money being taken and given away. His wife of 42 years and mother of their children is also pretty conservative but feels that he is being mean not to give their annual generous gift to the children. (I think each gets the annual gift limit which would be in the neighborhood of $50K maybe more)
What do you do when there is “no attitude of gratitude?”
Hmmm . . . I think whomever he donates the money to would put it to better use. I think his children will blame him for their loss instead of their own behavior, but there is a small chance that they will use this lesson to learn the valuable lesson of how socialism works in the real world.
The Bible teaches that we should raise up a child in the way he should go and when they grow old, they will not depart from it. Is it too late? No it is never too late, but it does become more difficult.
I once went down to the bank and borrowed enough money to give every single employee $100 as a token of my appreciation. A manager of mine reported two guys talking about the bonus and one said, “If that S.O.B. had wanted to he could have given each of us a $1000.” I fired that ungrateful sucker and his friend on the spot.
Obviously, I have little patience for an ungrateful attitude. I have given away millions of dollars to various churches and related non-profits and am absolutely amazed at some of their attitudes. Some didn’t even acknowledge my contributions much less tell me they appreciated it.
I wonder how it makes God feel to watch those who have been given so much not to even bother to thank Him. I think He feels the same way as I do. I think it makes Him angry. As for me I wouldn’t give those kids a dime if they acted in that fashion to me. They are old enough to make it on their own and apparently educated, so let them earn their own millions or choose to live in a commune and be a socialist/communist hippie.
The Bible says much about gratitude as well as the lack of it. God knows how we are designed, and He created us to thrive when we are humble, moral, and thankful. When we are arrogant, immoral, and ungrateful, we cannot have fellowship with Him, nor can we experience all it means to be created in the image of God (1 Peter 5:5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”). God included repeated commands in His Word about being thankful, reminding us that a grateful heart is a happy heart (Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful).
Psalm 50:23
“The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
to one who orders his way rightly
I will show the salvation of God!”