Thankful Thursday

I’m thankful for a quiet day to get things done. I’ve got a pretty long list of things I want to accomplish over the next month or so, and it feels good to cross a couple of items off. I’m thankful that God gave me the time and energy and know-how to do them.

I’m thankful that those in my family who were ill are back on their feet and either completely well or getting close to it.

I’m thankful for opportunities to serve—making meals, baking cupcakes, ordering books and cataloging them.

I’m thankful that because of what Jesus has done I do not have to fear dying. I’m thankful that death cannot separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus. I’m thankful that for the believer, dying “however hard and hurtful in physical terms” is, to quote J. I. Packer in Eighteen Words, “a journey into joy.” 

What about you? What are you thankful for?

The Contrite Heart

The Lord will happiness divine

On contrite hearts bestow;

Then tell me, gracious God, is mine

A contrite heart or no?

I hear, but seem to hear in vain,

Insensible as steel;

If aught is felt, ‘tis only pain,

To find I cannot feel.

I sometimes think myself inclined

To love Thee if I could;

But often feel another mind,

Averse to all that’s good.

My best desires are faint and few,

I fain would strive for more;

But when I cry, “My strength renew!”

Seem weaker than before.

Thy saints are comforted, I know,

And love Thy house of prayer;

I therefore go where others go,

But find no comfort there.

Oh make this heart rejoice or ache;

Decide this doubt for me;

And if it be not broken, break —

And heal it, if it be.

—William Cowper in Olney Hymns

It’s a strange hymn isn’t it? Knowing Cowper’s story1 helps explain it, but still, it’d be very odd to sing it as a congregation. 

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1Listen to a lecture on the life of Cowper by Michael Haykin or read these, posted here several years ago:

• Cowper 1
• Cowper 2

Round the Sphere Again: Examining Scripture

Triune God
Don Carson points to the “implicit Trinitarian reference” in 1 Corinthians 12. There’s more good stuff in his commentary, too.

Unified Truth
There’s one more post in Kim Shay’s excellent series on studying the Bible:

The Bible is a unified whole. It is not a collection of articles like a Newsweek magazine. The Bible has 66 different books with 66 different purposes, but they all come together to present one, unified truth. 

Read all of Training in Righteousness - 5.