We do not know exactly what made Abedi commit such an atrocity as killing children. Perhaps he was exacting vengeance for being mistreated in England. But his act of killing children is not only cruel, he was outright ungrateful. He had forgotten that England saved their lives and gave his family a home. What is even more troubling is that Abedi is only one instance. There were several others who also bit the hand that fed them.
My purpose of citing this act of terror is to alert you to one aspect of our fallen sinful human nature: we tend to be ungrateful, not only to people but also to God. Jesus was also forgotten by those whom he helped (Luke 17:12-19):
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.”
Dear Christian, have you succeeded in your career? Are you healthy? Is your family doing well? How did you succeed? Are you saying in your heart: “I’ve worked hard. I’m capable. My efforts have paid off.”? The Bible tells us that “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights”(James 1:17). If you do not believe that God was the one who blessed you, God just needs to make a small change to your situation, like taking away your good health, cause you to be disliked by your boss for some unimportant reason, or take something away from you. Then you will come to your senses that you are very fragile.
It is in your sinful human nature to be ungrateful. This means that you will very likely forget God after you have succeeded. Thus, you must make it a point to immediately show God gratitude after you succeed. Your success should move you to love the Lord more, to serve and follow Him even more faithfully, to give the Lord more than what you gave before. By so doing, you demonstrate that you are truly grateful. Then the Lord will bless you even more. Do not be like the other ungrateful nine lepers. Be like the one leper who suddenly remembered that he must return to say “thank you” to Jesus.