Odita Sunday 
By Ewere Okonta
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eobnewsmedia@gmail.com
www.ewereokontablog.org.ng
In a week where social media trended with outrage over bad governance, broken systems, digital addiction, failing schools, sexual confusion, celebrity excesses, tech arrogance, and the daily hustle to survive, I chose a counterculture message for my Sunday sermon: gratitude, appreciation, and thanksgiving.
Yes, you read that right.
At a time when anger sells, insults trend, and ingratitude has become fashionable, I am swimming against the tide. While many are busy counting what they lack, I am deliberately counting what I have received. While entitlement has replaced humility, I am choosing thanksgiving as resistance.
This year, I have consciously themed my life: A Year of Gratitude, Appreciation, and Thanksgiving. Not as a cliché. Not as church language. But as a personal ideology and moral posture.
Gratitude Is Not Weakness, It Is Wisdom
In today’s digital age, gratitude is often mistaken for weakness. People think if you say “thank you,” you reduce your relevance. If you appreciate someone, you are seen as desperate. If you acknowledge help, you are assumed to be dependent.
That thinking is toxic.
Gratitude is not weakness; ingratitude is intellectual laziness. Gratitude shows awareness. It shows memory. It shows character.
Biblically, the story of the ten lepers in Luke 17 is a classic but uncomfortable mirror. Ten were healed. Only one returned to say thank you. Jesus’ question still haunts modern society: “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?”
That question is no longer just biblical, it is digital, political, parental, and personal.
We celebrate mentors but don’t call them.
We benefit from systems we criticize.
We demand accountability but refuse appreciation.
We pray for helpers and insult them when they arrive imperfectly.
Appreciation Is a Language We Are Forgetting
Appreciation is deeper than gratitude. Gratitude acknowledges the act; appreciation acknowledges the heart behind the act.
King David understood this. When Abigail intervened to prevent bloodshed, David didn’t just accept the help, he appreciated the wisdom, courage, and timing behind it (1 Samuel 25). That appreciation saved lives and preserved destiny.
In our everyday lives, parenting, mentorship, marriage, business, politics, and even church; we are quick to correct and slow to commend. We amplify mistakes and mute sacrifices. We shout at teachers but forget to thank them. We insult leaders yet enjoy the roads, schools, and opportunities built quietly.
Appreciation does not deny flaws; it balances criticism with conscience.
Thanksgiving Is a Lifestyle, Not a Church Program
Thanksgiving is not a one-day harvest service or a social media caption with emojis. Thanksgiving is a posture of the soul.
Paul wrote, “In everything give thanks” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Not for everything, but in everything. That distinction matters.
In a Nigeria where frustration is justified…
In a world where technology has outpaced morality…
In an internet culture where sex is loud, values are blurred, and mentorship is scarce…
Thanksgiving becomes an act of spiritual maturity.
It reminds us that survival itself is a miracle.
That progress, no matter how slow, is still progress.
That people who show up for us – emotionally, financially, spiritually, are not common.
My Personal Declaration: No Good Deed Will Be Ignored
Let me be clear and controversial here: no amount of good done to me will go unappreciated, no matter how small.
A call.
A message.
An opportunity.
A correction done in love.
A door opened quietly.
A prayer whispered on my behalf.
In a society where people remember only your last mistake, I choose to remember your kindness. In a culture where people use others as ladders and forget them at the top, I choose to pause, bow, and say thank you.
Gratitude keeps you human.
Appreciation keeps you grounded.
Thanksgiving keeps you sane.
Why This Message Matters Now
This sermon is not just spiritual, it is social.
It confronts entitlement.
It challenges arrogance.
It questions the internet culture of constant outrage.
It calls parents, leaders, youths, entrepreneurs, influencers, and preachers back to emotional intelligence.
A grateful person is harder to manipulate.
An appreciative society is harder to destroy.
A thankful generation is easier to heal.
As I step into this new year of my life and purpose, this is my loudest declaration: gratitude is my language, appreciation is my lifestyle, and thanksgiving is my daily protest against bitterness.
If this sermon offends you, good.
If it convicts you, better.
If it changes you, best.
Because in a world that has mastered complaining, gratitude remains revolutionary.
This is the Sunday sermon from my holy pulpit!
Ewere Okonta is the CEO of EOB Media. He is a family values advocate. He writes from the Department of Business Administration, University of Delta, Agbor.
#EOB #HardTalK #sundaysermonwithewere
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