A grateful servant of God is the one who does not abuse God’s blessings to commit sins and does not stand against His commandments that are meant for the happiness of man.

It is a great sin that people use God’s blessings, like the human body, the earth, the air, the food, the clothing, and every material thing in the world, to commit sins and to act against the commandments of God, who has blessed us with all these bounties.

A sinner has no tools to commit sins, but God’s blessings. Someone who looks at women with lust is actually using the gift of eye for committing a sin.

Someone who is listening to unlawful music is using the gifts of ears to commit a sin.

Lying, falsely accusing someone, mocking a person, starting a fight, cursing, acting unjustly, being cruel, giving a false testimony, etc. is using the gift of tongue to commit a sin.

Anyone who is doing a wrong deed is in fact using one or more of God’s gifts for dong that.

What Does It Mean to Be Grateful?

Prophet David asked God, “Lord! What should I do to be a grateful servant for you?”‌

“Use my blessings in the way I have commanded you,”‌ said God, “That is how you could thank me.”‌

Therefore, according to this, committing sins is actually being ungrateful towards God.

As the starters, we need to know more about the gifts of God. After that, we should believe that everything we have is a blessing of God and in order to thank Him for the given blessings, we need to use those blessings in the right way. This will bring us happiness both in this world and in the world after.

We should not use God’s blessings in order to satisfy the desires of our whims. We should only use these gifts to make us a happy life in this world and in the world after. Otherwise, we will be severely punished.

We should be careful that these blessings won’t create problems for us. God has given us all these bounties to live happily. So, we should learn from the prophets and from Qur’an in what way to use them.

We should feel even more responsible towards the spiritual gifs. They will help us gain perfection and happiness in this world and in the world after.

Being indifferent towards Quran, prophets, Imams, Islamic sages, and mystics is as big a sin as disbelief and ungratefulness.

All the people will be questioned on the Day of Judgment, in regards to the gifts they had in the world.
Prophet Muhammad said, “There are four things people are asked about in the world after: How did you use your life and your body? Where did you get your wealth from? How did you spend it? And the last question is about their love towards me and my household.”‌ A man asked Prophet Muhammad, “What proves that someone loves you?”‌ “His love towards this man,”‌ said he and put his hand on the head of Ali bin Abi-Talib.

In order to be grateful for the gift of life, one should spend it in the way of God, and in order to be grateful for the gift of body, one should worship God, help the people, earn his livelihood by lawful means, believe in Imams, and obey them.

Imam Ali told his son Mojtaba, “Son! Stay away from committing sins, say your prayers on time, pay Zakat, forgive other’s sins and do not get angry at people, visit your family often and be patient with the ignorant, be persistent in your way, be loyal towards Quran, be nice to your neighbor, propose to people what is acceptable and deny from them what is prohibited, and stay away from every sin.”‌

If one lives based on this saying, he really is a grateful servant of God.

Different People in regards to God’s Gifts

 A point to be mentioned is that, there are four types of people in regards to the gifts of God, especially the spiritual ones:

1.These people accept neither the material bounties of God, nor about the spiritual ones. They are whether lazy and corrupted people who refuse to work, or ignorant and cruel people who do not accept the religion of God.

2.These people accept the material or spiritual bounties of God, but they are too stingy to use them. They just save them up without using them or helping others out.

3. These people accept the material or spiritual bounties of God, but they use them in a wrong way. Like the wealthy courtiers and so.

4. These people accept the material or spiritual bounties of God, and they believe that God has trusted these gifts with them, so they need to use them in the right way. These are the people whom Quran calls ‘the grateful people’.
According to Imam Sadiq, “In order to be grateful towards God, you should be careful not to commit sins with his blessings and not to resist His teachings by the power of His own gifts.”‌

Source: Tebyan