How to Raise Thankful Children, Part I

Define Thankfulness
Give some serious thought and come up with your own answer.
Mine: Expressed appreciation and evident valuing of a blessing
Expressed because it should be stated, but evident because many people express insincerely. In other words, one should show his thankfulness by his life

James MacDonald, in his excellent book, 'Lord, Change My Attitude', says, “Thankfulness is the attitude that perfectly displaces my sinful tendency to complain and thereby releases joy and blessing into my life.”

Luke 17:11-19
“Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy of us!’ So when He saw them He said to them, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, ‘Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?’ And He said to him, ‘Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.’ “

Thankfulness Is Engendered by Genuine Obedience
But as this story shows, Obedience isn’t always Genuine

Jesus tells them to go show themselves to the priests (they had to do this to have permission to go back to their families), so they headed off in that direction. “as they went” they were cleansed. Game over for nine of them!

Nine lepers displayed temporary, pragmatic obedience. This is often what our children do, and frankly, often what WE do. They obeyed up to the point that they got what they wanted, then they were done with Jesus, done with the leader, the authority, the parent, etc.

We must teach and demand obedience from our children, not just because we are the authority – though that is true – but because it engenders the qualities that lead to real thankfulness

How? By giving value to authority, to leadership, to power, and thus giving context that engenders thankfulness. Have you ever seen a thankful disobedient child or person?

Humility is a Pre-Requisite for Obedience
“And one of them, when he saw” . . .

We must see with obedience and humility that gives context to life. He saw a contrast. He saw that he was a leper but now was healed. He realized he could go to his family, if he had a wife and kids, he could touch them. He didn’t have to live the humiliation of yelling ‘unclean’ everywhere he went.

The other nine lepers were self-focused. Their obedience was not genuine; well, it may have been genuine but it was genuinely self-serving! The disingenuous person is rarely thankful. Sincerity isn’t evident in his life, because his life is about himself.

We must teach about humility. That starts by showing some! Study it. Observe it. Point it out. Let many teachable moments be about humility.

Humility and Obedience lead to Thankfulness
This is the obvious conclusion once the issue is studied, though on the surface, they might not be obvious qualities related to humility

“when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks”

And Jesus told Him
“your faith has made you well”

The first nine didn’t leave significantly better off; they were still self-serving, they were still lepers on the inside
The genuinely obedient and humble man was changed -- outside and inside