Confusing Sin with Negative Thinking

What is the Gos*pel? by Greg Gilbert is the first book I've chosen to read. I'd like to share a little bit of a chapter on confusing sin with negative thinking.

Confusing sin with negative thinking

Another misunderstanding of sin is to say that it's just a matter of negative thinking. We saw that in some of the quotes in the introduction to the book. [In response to the question, "What is the Gospel?" someone responded, "The good news is, God wants to show you his incredible favor. He wants to fill your life with "new wine," but are you willing to get rid of your old wineskins? Will you start thinking bigger? Will you enlarge your vision and get rid of those old negative mind-sets that hold you back?"

  Now that's a compelling message to self-reliant people who want to believe they can take care of their sin all by themselves. That's probably why men who proclaim that message have managed to build some of the largest churches in the world. The formula is pretty easy, really. Just tell people that their sin is no deeper than negative thinking and that it's holding them back from health, wealth and happiness. Then tell them that if they'll just think more positively about themselves (with God's help, of course) they'll be rid of their sin and get rich, to boot. Bingo! Instant megachurch! 

Sometimes the promised goal is money, sometimes health, sometimes something else entirely. But however you spin it, to say that Jesus Christ died to save us from negative thoughts about ourselves is reprehensibly unbiblical. In fact, the Bible teaches that a big part of our problem is that we think too highly of ourselves, not too lowly. Stop and think about it for a moment. How did the Serpent tempt Adam & Eve? He told them they were thinking too negatively about themselves. He told them they needed to think more positively, to extend their grasp, to reach toward their full potential, to be like God! In a word, he told them to think bigger. Now, how'd that work out for them?

There's so much more I wish I could share with you! I would recommend anyone to purchase it.

Readings

Let me start out by saying, we have way too many books. And you wouldn't believe it but, we haven't read half of them. Sad, I know. So with the new year I am going to try and read two books per month. For the month of January I'm going to read 

What is the Gos*pel? by Greg Gilbert 

Practicing Hospitality by Pat Ennis and Lisa Tatlock. 

Along with that, my husband & I are going through the blended 1 year reading plan where we read the books in a non-traditional sequence. There are many other plans available where I found this one - you can see them here. 

For my own quiet time I have started a group in Good Morning Girls for homemaking wives and we are going through the book of Ephesians. 

I am *very* excited about what this year will bring, starting off by diving into His Word! 

Are you going to try and set some realistic goals this year for reading? I'd love to hear about them. :)

This weeks linkups: