I had not thought of myself as an ungrateful person, but reading this book showed me that I am not nearly as grateful as I should be. Nancy is open abI had not thought of myself as an ungrateful person, but reading this book showed me that I am not nearly as grateful as I should be. Nancy is open about her own struggles being grateful and so she encourages us to be more grateful as someone by our side and not as someone cracking a whip over us. It is convicting, in an encouraging kind of way. She makes you want to be more grateful because you see how much joy and blessing it brings to yourself and others. In the book she also shares some inspiring stories from the lives of others. It is easy to read and reads quickly.
Some favorite quotes:
"The grateful heart that springs forth in joy is not acquired in a moment; it is the fruit of a thousand choices. It is a godly habit and pattern that over time becomes a new muscle in our spiritual makeup."
"Ungrateful people are much like a container that has a hole in it, leaking out every blessing that's been poured in, always needing something else, something new to consume for satisfaction fuel."
"We are often quick to share our concerns with others, but all too reticent to share our expressions of gratitude."
"Life is full of occasions that can be transformed from mere parties and pleasantries into deliberate moments of united gratitude."
And there is much more where these came from!...more
The short chapters and the simple style of this book make it easy and enjoyable to read. As I flipped through the book I see a number of things that aThe short chapters and the simple style of this book make it easy and enjoyable to read. As I flipped through the book I see a number of things that are underlined which means there were a number of things that were helpful to me. In general, the teaching of the book is sound. However, there are a few things that trouble me.
In the introduction and in the last chapter of the book she says that contentment and happiness are one and the same if we interpret them Biblically. She doesn’t give a basis for this claim and I cannot find one in Scripture. This may not seem like such a big deal, but when the whole book is about contentment, it is important to define it accurately and I cannot account for why she makes such a claim. The word happiness isn’t used in the KJV, but the word happy is used a couple of times and Vine’ s translates it as “blessed, happy.” It’s from a word meaning large. It is most often translated blessed as in the Beatitudes. The word contentment is defined by Vine’s as “satisfaction with what one has” and is once translated contentment (1 Timothy 6:6) and once translated sufficiency (2 Corinthians 9:8). I don’t see how the words can be said to have the same meaning or that they are used interchangeably in the Bible. Happiness is a much stronger emotion involving great blessing, contentment involves recognizing that one has enough. Food and clothing are cause for contentment (I Tim. 6); inheriting the earth and seeing God are cause for happiness (Mt. 5).
Her main point is that neither happiness nor contentment can be found in things, but must be found in Christ and that is very true. But if we lose the meaning of words, we lose the foundation for everything in the Bible. If people can give whatever meanings they want to words, the Bible will end up meaning everything, or, more accurately, nothing. I’m not so much concerned about her treatment of contentment as I am her treatment of the word of God.
She does something even worse with Scripture in the chapter titled Satisfaction Guaranteed where she says that when Jesus says "blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness", he really meant we should hunger and thirst for himself, for Christ. The problem with this is that if he had meant that, he could very easily have said that but he didn’t. It seems reasonable to assume that he said what he meant. Strong’s says that the word used here means “equity of character or action” and comes from a word meaning justice. Vines says that as it is used here in Matthew 5 it is speaking “of whatever is right or just in itself, whatever conforms to the revealed will of God.” Lydia Brownback said that it wouldn’t be very appealing if we thought he was talking about a list of do’s and don’ts and so she gives it her own meaning. But Psalm 119 makes it very clear that the Christian does loves God’s law and hungers and thirsts for it. This shouldn’t be as surprising or as unthinkable as she makes it out to be. Yes, we should desire Christ, and there are places that speak of that, but this verse is speaking of desiring righteousness, to be righteous and to live in accordance with the law. That’s how Christ lived and a true love for Christ as he really is should love the way he lived and want to live like him.
Though most of the book is fine and even helpful, I am disturbed that in places she jettisons the obvious and clear meaning of God’s word for a meaning that evidently fits in better with what she wants to believe. This is something we all are guilty of sometimes but that doesn’t make it any the less dangerous. We should be both willing to see it in ourselves and willing to point it out in others because the cost of molding God’s word to suit our own ideas is way too high. ...more
I have started reading children's biographies hoping to find some good ones to add to my church library. One of my main concerns is to find books thatI have started reading children's biographies hoping to find some good ones to add to my church library. One of my main concerns is to find books that exalt God's role in what people were able to accomplish instead of setting up the people as impossible paragons of virtue. In that regard, I thought this book did pretty well. It didn't present Helen as perfect but showed how she struggled with faults throughout her ministry. It's written as a novel with dialogue invented but as far as I can tell it stays pretty true to the facts. I thought the writing was pretty good, not great, but pretty good. Two things I wish were different: I wish when Helen struggled with pleasing people that it had been brought out that she should have been seeking to please God and realizing that God was pleased with her in Christ, instead the lesson was taught that Helen should've just realized her own worth as a person and that she was likable the way she was. There were also a couple of times when girls were breaking the rules and it was treated like innocent mischief instead of like sin....more
I admit to being biased in my rating of this book. Hymnology is one of my favorite subjects and Faith Cook is one of my favorite authors. This stands I admit to being biased in my rating of this book. Hymnology is one of my favorite subjects and Faith Cook is one of my favorite authors. This stands out from other books about hymns because she combines a study of hymnology proper with biographies of the men and women who particularly contributed to the development of our English hymns. In the end it's not a book about some hymn stories, it's a book about the story of the English hymn. From Isaac Watts (and before) to Fanny Crosby (and beyond) she tells both about their personal lives and about their poetic styles. Like everything Cook writes, it is very well researched. I have read many books on hymns, so a good deal of the material was familiar, but I liked this book better than any other book I've read on hymns because of how well it is laid out, each piece fitting into the whole, instead of a disjointed jumble of pieces....more
My low rating probably reflects the fact that I don't like war books very much. All in all this one is well written, well researched and easy to read.My low rating probably reflects the fact that I don't like war books very much. All in all this one is well written, well researched and easy to read. It also deals with a subject probably most people don't know much about, those few Americans who illegally left America to join the British air force before America had entered World War II. It was pretty interesting. I think the main reason I didn't like it is that none of the people were particularly noble. Mostly they were adventurers who just wanted some excitement. It's always hard to like a book when you don't like the characters. There are a few curse words and God's name being taken in vain, not by the author himself but by the people he quotes.
One affect this book had on me was to make me wish we (America ) had joined the war sooner. Perhaps we could have saved Britain a lot of suffering.
This book is a collection of excerpts from different Puritan writers arranged as prayers and organized by category. I have been reading a prayer a dayThis book is a collection of excerpts from different Puritan writers arranged as prayers and organized by category. I have been reading a prayer a day with my devotions and have found it helpful to make their prayers my own. I only wish I knew which Puritans wrote them as the book doesn't tell you. Here are some of my favorite prayers:
May my words and works allure others to the highest walks of faith and love.
Teach me the happy art of attending to things temporal with a mind intent on things eternal.
Make thy cross the ground of all my comfort, the liveliness of all my duties, the sum of all thy gospel promises, the comfort of all my afflictions, the vigor of my love, thankfulness, graces, the very essence of my religion.
May I always know that a clean heart full of goodness is more beautiful than the lily, that only a clean heart can sing by night and by day, that such a heart is mine when I abide at Calvary.
I think this book could enrich your prayer life!...more
This book is a collection of Bonar's quotes arranged into 53 readings, one for each Sunday of the year. The quotes are from his journals and letters aThis book is a collection of Bonar's quotes arranged into 53 readings, one for each Sunday of the year. The quotes are from his journals and letters and sermons and are arranged roughly by topic. Many of the quotes are very good, he has a way with words and his quotes are often encouraging, they focus on the heart of religion and on Christ. A few times the quotes seem not very well thought out, but when you remember that it could be from a letter or his diary, then that is to be expected. I personally am not crazy about books that are composed of a bunch of quotes or I might have given this book a higher rating.
Here are a few sample quotes:
Concerning the benefits of suffering: "We have got more from Paul's prisonhouse than from his visit to the third heavens."
"Cultivate joy as much as you cultivate honesty and uprightness."
"Love is the motive for working. Joy is the strength for working."
"When anything intercepts our view of Christ, may we feel what loneliness is." ...more
This is the first book I have read by DA Carson. I found it often hard to follow but that is probably because I'm not very familiar with seminaryese aThis is the first book I have read by DA Carson. I found it often hard to follow but that is probably because I'm not very familiar with seminaryese and because the topic is one I'm not familiar with. It's not what I was expecting. I was thinking of culture more like entertainment and ethics, this deals more with political questions and how we should interact with the state. He is writing in response to Neibuhr's book called Christ and Culture, evidently a very influential book but I never read it so I felt a little lost. Having said all this, there was one section I really liked on Biblical theology, beginning around page 45 and continuing a good number of pages. One favorite quote about the signs of hope in spite of the fall: "God still sends his sun and rain upon the just and the unjust; he still guides the surgeon's hand and gives strength to the person who picks up the garbage; the sunset still takes our breath away, while a baby's smile steals our hearts. Acts of kindness and self-sacrifice surface among every race and class of human beings, not because we are simple mixtures of good and evil, but because even in the midst of our deep rebellion God restrains us and displays his glory and his goodness.... Christians cannot long think about Christ and culture without reflecting on the fact that this is God's world, but that this side of the fall this world is simultaneously resplendent with glory and awash in shame, and that every expression of human culture simultaneously discloses that we were made in God's image and shows itself to be misshaped and corroded by human rebellion against God" ...more
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