Gleanings of Wheat

I just finished reading through Helen Roseveare's " Enough " (very brief book, easy to read, encouraging) and as I read chapter 6 it occurred to me how shallow my trust is. Even though I know God is huge, and powerful, and endlesslessly merciful, somehow I still manage to have this poor view of God's sufficiency for me in Christ. As I read the chapter (really the whole book, but it clicked particularly in this chapter) I realized that when I hear the word "enough" I think of it as something like "skimping through, enough to get by...but barely" rather than what Ephesians 3:20 says: Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think , according to the power at work within us, Immeasurably more than I could ever imagine. Enough. That's what Christ is for me. He Giveth More Grace He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater, He sendeth more strength as our labors increase; To added afflictions He addeth...

I purchased Future Grace by John Piper sometime ago and haven't been very good about actually reading it. It isn't that I haven't want to, well that's not entirely true b/c I'm sure if I wanted to read it badly enough I'd actually have done it, but I've lacked the discipline to do so. Anyhow, I'm reading it now - a chapter a day along with my regular Bible reading (I'm in Mark right now, today's reading was the crucifixion - I'm reading about God's grace toward me while recounting His greatest act of mercy, if my heart doesn't burst with wonder I'm going to think something is wrong!) and thought I'd post a few quotes of what stood out to me yesterday and caused me to stop and think a bit more deeply about God's grace. You can't deserve to be created. You can't deserve, as a non-being, to be put into a lavish garden where all your needs are met by a loving Father. So even before they sinned, Adam and Eve lived ...

I got Respectable Sins with a gift card from Christmas. I purposefully didn't read it all in one sitting...or even in one week...like I normally do. I'd heard wonderful things about it and wanted to take my time in it. I am glad I did. Some parts were more challenging/ convicting than others for me, but I got something out of each and every chapter. I don't know that Jerry Bridges said anything I hadn't already heard, but somehow I feel like I was more apt to receive it as I've been becoming more aware of my tendency to tolerate certain sins in my life. This coupled with my church walking through C.J. Mahaney's book, Worldliness , has brought on even more self examination in light of Biblical standards - and that is a great thing. Now that I'm done with that, what should I read?

So, I'm working on memorizing the 8th chapter of Romans - not really sure why I didn't just start at the beginning and memorize the entire book, but we all know I'm a little...off. Anyway, Romans is being interspersed with the following books I got for Christmas: I'm more than a little entertained by the fact that both books were written by men named John and have the word "sin" in the title. I'm beginning to think I have a thing for the name John - I was already a fan of Piper, Edwards, and MacArthur and I think Owen is going to be added to the list as well.