How To Get Spiritual Joy

WHAT WOULD MOST Americans pay for joy? What price would they give? Modern pharmaceutical companies know the answer. In 2010 Americans spent 16 billion on antidepressant drugs. If we add to that the amount spent on vacations and new toys, (activities pursued to amplify...

Teaching Children Gratitude

LUKE, AGE FIVE, wants to go to the playground, but mom has another plan, so Luke throws a temper tantrum. He complains. He grumbles. He wallows in self-pity . Mom knows her son should be grateful. She has spent hours lecturing him on the virtue of gratitude, but the...

The Importance of Gratitude or Thanksgiving

PAUL WROTE PHILIPPIANS from prison. Most of us would grumble and complain. A Roman Prison was not a pleasant place. Bad food, surly companions, filth, rats, vermin, stench, poor lighting, beatings, torture, etc …Yet, in these circumstances, Paul writes the most...

Thomas Brooks On Gratitude!

Thomas Brooks (1608-80) one of the great Puritan expositors wrote the following. “Is not Christ your treasure? Is not heaven your inheritance—and will you murmur? Has not God given you a changed heart, a renewed nature, and a sanctified soul—and will you murmur?...

The Language of Humility (Part Two)

(The first blog in this series discussed the importance of gratitude. This blogs moves on to define gratitude). To think hard about biblical thanksgiving let’s start with what it is not. It is not politeness. It is not a something that all nice people do. Although...