Ingratitude

"I fear that what will surprise us most, when we see our Lord, will be the extent of our own ingratitude."

               —E.B. Pusey

Hat Tip: Challies Dot Com

Gratitude: The Only Answer

"The Christian life is a thank-you from beginning to end as we ponder what God has done. What an absurdity to think that we could ever bargain with God, as if there were anything we could put on the table. Nothing we can do would ever earn his favor. Yet all is ours for free. And the cross reveals his willingness to forgive not just once, but over and over and over again. How can we repay such extravagant, generous love? We cannot and need not, and the heart’s only answer is gratitude"

— Rebecca Pippert, Hope Has Its Reasons (New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1989), 159

Hat Tip:  Of First Importance

Let My Bones Be Soaked With Your Love

O my God,
let me, with thanksgiving,
remember, and confess unto you
your mercies on me.
Let my bones be soaked with your love,
and let them say unto you,
Who is like you, O Lord?
You have broken my chains in pieces.
I will offer unto you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
And how you have broken them, I will declare;
and all who worship you, when they hear this, will say:
Blessed is the Lord in heaven and in earth!
Great and wonderful is his name!
- Augustine of Hippo

Hat Tip:  Kingdom People

  

Receiving the Little Things

"We prevent God from giving us the great spiritual gifts He has in store for us, because we do not give thanks for daily gifts...How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things."

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, quoted in Acedia & Me by Kathleen Norris, Page 190

Three Truths About Us

The quote below is from Jared Wilson at The Gospel-Driven Church: 3 Things I Know About Myself and Others. The three things he says he knows about himself are also true about me.

1. Hurt people hurt people.

2. If Satan can't get me to be despondent through recall of my past sins, he will try to get me bitter and graceless by reminding me of others' sins against me. I may not always agree with his condemnation of myself, but he knows it's really easy to get me to say "Yeah!" to condemnation of others.

3. The key not just to appreciation of what I've got but to thankfulness in all things is recognizing I don't deserve anything good.

Bet they are true about you too!