Weekly Roundup: gratefulness, ungratefulness, not reading the Bible, and legalism
Gratefulness in loss, ungratefulness as the root of sin, when I don’t want to read the Bible, and legalism as old as Eden itself.
Resources
Gratefulness in Loss | Michael S. Beates | TableTalk Magazine
Happy Thanksgiving! I needed this article. If you’ve grieved or lost something or someone you love, you might need this article, too.
To be grateful is to be appreciative of benefits received, to be thankful. But how is someone to be grateful when dreams die? When illness, disability, betrayal of deepest friendships, or any number of unalterable losses come crashing into one’s life? Whence comes gratefulness when hard providence seems to steal joy from the future?
Ungratefulness as the Root of Sin | William B. Barcley | TableTalk Magazine
We teach the little ones to say, “Thank you.” Usually it’s just a matter of being polite. But might it be more than just good manners?
Ungratefulness and pride go hand in hand. Where one goes, the other walks beside it.
I Don’t Want to Read the Bible | John Piper | Desiring God
If you’ve ever struggled to read the Bible, this is for you. Desiring God just started releasing a series of Look at the Book videos examining four obstacles to Bible reading. Part 1 is here, and part 2 is here.
Legalism as Old as Eden Itself | Sinclair Ferguson | The Whole Christ
Legalism, then, is almost as old as Eden itself. In essence it is any teaching that diminishes or distorts the generous love of God and the full freeness of his grace. It then distorts God's graciousness revealed in his law and fails to see law set within its proper context in redemptive history as an expression of a gracious Father. This is the nature of legalism. Indeed we might say these are the natures of legalism.1
Ferguson, Sinclair B. Whole Christ - Legalism, Antinomianism, and Gospel Assurance-Why the Marrow. Crossway Books, 2016, 94-95. ↩︎
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