Yesterday’s sermon, in preparation for our Thanksgiving celebrations, contrasted the virtue of gratitude with the sin of covetousness. God doesn’t mind us wanting stuff, but He cares about what we want (not our neighbor’s stuff) and how we want it. Righteous wanting is ordered and in submission to God. Ungodly wanting is disordered and covetous. But the Good News is that with our regeneration comes the death of disordered wanting and the birth of ordered wanting. When we are born again in Christ, our covetous wanting is put to death, and thanksgiving is born. Covetousness is thanksgiving’s mortal enemy.
Author Archive for Nancy Ann
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Back when I was learning how to lead a Bible study (before I was married), I remember a little booklet my father-in-law wrote called “Too Many Opinions.” It’s been a while since I read it, but you can read it on his blog (as I linked above). It discusses how easy it is to get off the point in a Bible study, and rather than looking at the clear meaning of the text before us, we can lurch into “Well, I think it is saying….” or “I think it means….” etc. The point was to not ask, “What do you think this means?” but rather to ask a question that could be answered by looking at the text. Continue reading ‘Opinions’
Years ago when my children were small, I knew that someday I would be sitting at their feet learning from them. That day arrived some time back, and I couldn’t be more blessed by how God is blessing them. Here’s the latest:
Loving the Little Years now has a website, which will hopefully grow into a handy resource site.
And here’s Nate on NPR’s “All Things Considered” which aired today!
Spurgeon (in his entry for today) discusses Deut. 33:27, that God is our refuge. He points out that “refuge may be translated ‘mansion,’ or abiding place,’ which gives the thought that God is our abode, our home.”
Then he goes on to draw connections between our own earthly homes and what it means to dwell in God as our home. I was particularly struck by his idea of home. Here’s a summary of his comments on home.
1. “At home, we take our rest; it is there we find repose after the fatigue and toil of the day.”
2. “Home, too, is the place of our truest and purest happiness.”
3. “It is also for home that we work and labour.”
4. And here’s my favorite: “At home, also, we let our hearts loose; we are not afraid of being misunderstood, nor of our words being misconstrued.”
What a lovely image! And what a good thought for mothers and wives. We should labor to make our homes all these things and more. And our children and husbands should find that home is where they can let their hearts loose without fear!
One of the things parents should be concerned about is preparing their kids to handle peer pressure. We want kids who will do the right thing, regardless of pressure from friends to do something other than the right thing. So how do we teach them to do this?
I would suggest that we teach them by learning it ourselves. We parents are not immune to peer pressure. Think about it. How many times do we feel an urge to do something, or buy something, because are friends are doing it? Our friends are traveling to Europe. We should go to Europe. Our friends are building a new house. We should build a new house. Our friends Continue reading ‘Peer Pressure’
Dear Readers and Commenters All,
So I’ve been going along and supposing that I had cleared all the comments coming in when Bekah called and said something like, “Mom, did you know there are over 70 comments waiting to be cleared?” Yikes! I’m so sorry everyone! I didn’t mean to leave your comments high and dry. I’ve cleared a bunch now, so they’ll see the light of day.
Those of you who have requested the Minister’s Wife….it’s coming!
Also, a few of you have asked for some personal advice. So, as soon as I can, I will answer those. (Meanwhile, I’ll leave those off the blog.)
And finally, keep on commenting! I’ll try to keep a closer eye on things.
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