Grumbling is Not a Minor Sin

It can seem that a little complaining is just a little “letting off steam,” but as this post notes it is much more dangerous. “The books of Exodus and Numbers track God’s dramatic rescue of Israel out of Egyptian enslavement. God wasn’t only rescuing his people, he was ushering them toward a glorious land of promise. There was only one obstacle that prevented Israel from fulfilling God’s mission. It wasn’t Pharaoh or his massive army. It wasn’t the entrenched Canaanite forces. It was the Israelites’ grumbling hearts.”

Respectable Sins of the Reformed World

Borrowing from Jerry Bridges in this post, Tim Challies notes, ““Respectable sins” are behaviors Christians (sometimes individually and sometimes corporately) regard as acceptable even though the Bible describes them as sinful. They are subtle or refined in such a way that we may even dress them up to become a kind of virtue. . . . One tricky aspect of this list of respectable sins is that its contents can change over time. What was respectable in one era can be scandalous in another before once again fading back to respectability.”

Hoarding Hope

In this post Anthony Kidd writes, “Hoarding is “collecting and often hiding away a supply of something of value.” In times of crisis, when resources dwindle, people seem especially prone to hoarding. Our self-interest shows our natural bent toward self-preservation, even at the expense of others. It speaks, quite frankly, to our sin. But what is even worse than potentially hurting others physically and temporally in a time of crisis is hurting others spiritually and eternally by hoarding the good news of the gospel, and all the more in a time of crisis.”