There are two sure signs that I’m a thankless person.  When things go wrong, I fuss at God.  When things go right, I forget God.  My sense of entitlement to my version of “the good life” leads me to blame God when He doesn’t grant it and keeps me from blessing God when I think I’ve got it.  Why thank God for something I think He owes me?

When I succumb to that second sin, thanklessness, it seems to indicate I’ve got a problem with the first and third sin, too.  The reason I don’t thank God is because I don’t worship Him as God.  Likewise, the result of not thanking God for His good gifts is to make them gods.  Here’s how I figured this out.

One day recently I asked my Bible students to help me make a list of the top ten favorite sins of people their age.  I won’t give you the list here, because as you might imagine, they came up with the usual suspects.  Then we read Romans 1:21 and I asked them why thanklessness was not on our list.  They agreed that it should be but that they just didn’t think about thanking.  Ingratitude is a stealth sin; it doesn’t often show up on our radar.  Next, I asked them to make a list of ten things and/or people for which they are thankful.  (Why don’t you try it now?)  That was quick and easy, so I asked them to write down ten more reasons they were thankful.  Not so tough.  Why not write five more?  I, too, compiled a list of twenty-five grounds for gratitude which included family, friends, and fried foods, as well my coffee, my calling, and my computer.

We talked about how giving thanks is connected both to worshipping God and worshipping gods.  When I thank God for any one of His good gifts, I am worshipping Him as the Creator and Giver.  As John Piper says, every good gift of God can become a “springboard to praise,” a launching pad from which my heart lifts off from enjoying the gift to exalting the Giver.  Godward gratitude worships God, and worshippers of God can’t help but be grateful.  But we also discovered how easily those things and people for which we are thankful become gods that we worship.  As I looked through the list of my grounds for gratitude, I noticed a theme:  sometimes I make idols out of my family, friends, and even fried foods.  My cup of coffee, my calling, and my computer can all become my sources of “salvation,” little deities on which I depend for satisfaction, security and significance.

As we thought together about the link between worship, gratitude, and idolatry, I stumbled upon what to me was a new discovery.  Now, what I’m about to share may not be news to you, but I was as excited about this thought as I imagine a medical research scientist would be about discovering the long-awaited antidote to a devastating disease.  The antidote to idolatry is giving thanks to God. The way to keep from making gods out of good gifts is gratitude to God.  If I tend to make an idol out of God’s good gift of family, friends, food, coffee, career, or computers, then I must instead determine to worship God for those gifts by giving thanks for them continually.  Jesus said that I cannot simultaneously serve both God and His gifts because while I am devoted to one I will despise the other (Luke 16:13).  So, the best way to short circuit idolatry is to give worship-soaked thanks to God for the very thing or person I am tempted to put in God’s place.  In order to despise idols I must let my delight in created people, places, and things propel me to delighted devotion to the God who created and gave them to me.

Gospel gratitude comes from a heart that beats with the truth of Romans 8:32: “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” Every good and perfect gift of God has been bought by the blood of His Son.  How could I possibly believe the Good News and turn to worship the gifts over the Giver?  My tendency to go after gods will be weakened when I remember the gospel and give thanks to God for the Gift and gifts it guarantees.

JIMMY DAVIS is an Associate Pastor at Metrocrest Presbyterian Church in Carrollton, TX, an Associate Editor for the Worldview Church, and maintains the Cruciform Life Blog.

Related resource at the Colson Center store: Breaking The Idols of Your Heart: How To Navigate the Temptations of Life