Three Things

I've just started reading Kevin DeYoung's "The Good News We Almost Forgot" and I'm really excited about it. The book is basically an exposition of the Heidelberg Confession and it looks to be enriching and encouraging. (I'm also looking forward to hearing Kevin in a session at the T4G Conference next week!)

The shortest summary of the Confession consists of three things: guilt, grace and gratitude. These three provide an all-encompassing and thorough perspective on Christian existence. DeYoung says "[i]f Christians would hold to all 'three things' and not just one or two, we would be saved from a lot of poor theology and bad ideas."

These three are actually part of the answer to the second question of this 16th century catechism:

Q. What must you know to live and die in the joy of this comfort?

A. Three things: First, how great my sin and misery are; second, how I am set free from all my sins and misery; third, how I am to thank God for such deliverance.

We must admit our sin instead of excusing it.

We must trust another instead of ourselves.

We must live to give thanks instead of being thanked.