The Importance of Gratitude

[Apologiaphoenix]

If you ever deserved any of it, it wouldn't be grace would it?

[One Bad Pig]

Sure, but that's when it's most important. What I mean by pure application alone is go to many churches today and the whole point of the Bible is all about how you are to be a good person and all of that. God is brought in on occasion if need be.

Oh. That's not what I get out of "pure application" at all.

[Apologiaphoenix]

What do you have in mind?

[One Bad Pig]

What do you have in mind?

Pure application would be a focus on how we can apply the particular passage at hand to living our life in Christ. The setting of a passage and what happens and how it fits in history is good from an intellectual standpoint, but on a practical level, unpacking just want it means to, e.g., "take up your cross and follow Me" complete with illustrative examples is much more pertinent to the average believer on a daily basis. We are not put on this earth to become master exegetes; we are here to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, learning to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves.

[Apologiaphoenix]

For me, pure application is taking a passage and ignoring the historical and theological and social context and learning nothing about that and jumping straight to "What does it tell me about me today?"

[tabibito]

Pure application would be a focus on how we can apply the particular passage at hand to living our life in Christ. The setting of a passage and what happens and how it fits in history is good from an intellectual standpoint, but on a practical level, unpacking just want it means to, e.g., "take up your cross and follow Me" complete with illustrative examples is much more pertinent to the average believer on a daily basis. We are not put on this earth to become master exegetes; we are here to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, learning to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves.

The response to such a preaching is frequently

[Sparko]

Spongebob treats me like I sometimes treat God.

same here - I need to talk to God more, just about life, and say "Thank you" more often.

[Cow Poke]

same here - I need to talk to God more, just about life, and say "Thank you" more often.

My youngest daughter has been the picture of this for me....

When she was little, sometimes she would climb up in my lap when I was in my EZchair and wrap her arms around my neck, and say, "Daddy, I love you".

I'd growl "Oh yeah, what do you want NOW?"

And she'd giggle and say "I don't want anything - I just want to tell you I love you".

And she just sent me a text telling me that her coworker wants me to be HER Dad, too!

reds.jpg

My baby is the one on the right - people often confuse them for the other person, and/or believe they are sisters.

[Sparko]

My youngest daughter has been the picture of this for me....

When she was little, sometimes she would climb up in my lap when I was in my EZchair and wrap her arms around my neck, and say, "Daddy, I love you".

I'd growl "Oh yeah, what do you want NOW?"

And she'd giggle and say "I don't want anything - I just want to tell you I love you".

And she just sent me a text telling me that her coworker wants me to be HER Dad, too!

reds.jpg

My baby is the one on the right - people often confuse them for the other person, and/or believe they are sisters.

My right or yours?

[Cow Poke]

My right or yours?

I'm not sure - I get confused.