Radical Gratitude: Recalibrating Your Heart in An Age of Entitlement

by Peter Maiden

As Christians we should be the most grateful people alive. After all, doesn't the Bible encourage thankfulness and condemn grumbling?

Peter Maiden traces the theme of thanksgiving in Scripture, and shows how we can genuinely live counter-cultural lives even in an age of rampant entitlement. With a pastoral heart, he explains how gratitude is the key to joyful, consistent Christian living, discipleship and mission involvement. He focuses on:

· how we can develop the habit of thanksgiving
· the benefits of gratitude
· how we can be grateful, even in hard times


Each chapter unpacks biblical truth and grounds it with practical application and personal illustrations. A series of short Bible study questions and reflections (mostly on the Psalms) conclude the chapters.

As he was writing this book, poignantly and to his great shock, the author learned that he was suffering from incurable cancer. Far from derailing his message, this unwelcome news energised his efforts as he poured out his vision on the page with his now-limited resources. This is authenticity at its best. This book will be the author's last.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Christian

160 pages, Paperback

Published July 16, 2020

Reviews

[Verity · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend this book for all Christians. I'd never read a book that focuses exclusively on the theme of gratitude before, but this book has left me convinced of the centrality of gratitude in our spiritual lives. Peter Maiden wrote in a very gracious way, so whilst reading it I felt convicted of many of my shortcomings in this area but also very encouraged to keep working on developing the discipline of gratitude, with the help of the Holy Spirit. The book includes a section for personal reflection at the end of each chapter and lots of practical tips for cultivating gratitude. It seems very timely that this book was published in 2020, with everything that has happened across the world this year. This is a book that I already want to read again- there's wisdom on every page!

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book to have something to discuss with my mother.
While religious, I don't exactly conform to the classic form of Christianity present in this book. However, I found that Maiden's book demonstrates a nice and unintrusive view of the relationship between God and hardship in our lives which I very much could agree with.

Perhaps I was hoping for something a bit deeper in terms of radical gratitude that was not exclusively directed towards God, but I guess that is a bit hard on so few pages. The fact that Maiden wrote it while dying of cancer does indeed provide that level of radicalism, but it is something that (gratefully) I have a hard time understanding and applying in my own life.

If you are religious (and even if you aren't), I think you should definitely read it. It is a quick read that offers something worthwhile to apply in your life.

[Félicette · Rating 3 out of 5]

March 21-April 14, 2024 4:35PM hot afternoon
3.5 stars (I like the story and recommendable)

I bought this book in Duolos Hope which is a floating bookshop about Christians. I love the title because at that moment it felt like I didn’t appreciate the things that were happening to me. Yes, I’m the ungrateful brat who keeps tilting the balance in LIFE from the work/life idea. I got this job, title, and salary but I am also going out during work days and not doing my tasks. I know, I am so brat. That’s the story of why I bought another printed book even though I already have a Kindle Oasis. This serves as a memento of the tour -the traveling bookshop on a ship.

The caveat is that the story feels like it was copied from the Bible. I know that this is a Christian book but I am reading THE Bible in this book. It gets boring as I have been trying to finish this since March. Maybe I have changed over time or the book is just okay —not the tear-jerking real-life stories I was expecting.

This is still a good book and I finished this thinking of God. But it didn’t cure my ungrateful brat self…maybe a tiny bit only. I learned that we must always be grateful for every single thing we receive from God because it is all from Him.

To end this review, I wanted to thank the author, Peter, for writing this book during the pandemic year, 2020. Thank you that I bought this and maybe I didn’t reread this again someday. Maybe I’ll be changed then.

[Aron · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well written book, with an important message, that reads very easy. Sometimes I felt like Maiden could have made his claim in a paragraph or two, instead of devoting a whole chapter to it. But it's nice that he tells a lot of stories to explain what he means.

What's really missing in the whole book is a theological basis. Maiden addresses the issue of suffering often, without providing his view on where suffering comes from and why it happens to both unbelievers and believers. His theology of God is also lacking explanation. Even though the reader is provided with his experience and some practical tools of how to handle it, the reader is left wondering how we should interpret suffering theologically.

What I found to be very moving is the last chapter, were Maiden suddenly reveals that he has only a few months left to live. This makes you realize that Maiden is not just theorizing when he writes about these theme of suffering.
But then again, it wouldn't have done the book harm to include some theological theory about how Christians think about suffering.

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thoughtful and personal little book in the importance of an attitude (and acts) of gratitude in the Christian life. The book is super short and the chapters just bite sized. It is written from the heart and with many personal examples. There are exercises or passages (Psalms) to study after each chapter which might make this a good Bible study group book. Overall it is helpful if nothing particularly new and I had some theological points of difference with the author in his final chapter. However overall an easy, positive and practical read.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit on the anecdote-heavy-and-jumps-around-a-bit end of things for my normal taste, perhaps like a sort of pep talk, and lacking the polish and sophistication of many authors, but very much an unpretentious, simple, honest and convicting whiz around the importance of gratitude to God. All the more powerful as you get to the final chapters and realise he must have finished it only months before dying of cancer. An energetic and generous man saying some important things, facing his end head on, confident in the God of grace who had sustained him for many years. Thank you!

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's good to have a book on gratitude, written by a man who has learned and lived this out, I think this book could've been more helpful with a clearer structure and deeper engagement with some of the questions raised. I enjoyed the reflections at the end of each chapter. Reading this with some others, it's prompted thoughtful conversations.

[Jonathan Downing · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly vulnerable and convicting challenge to be grateful. Maiden's writing is intimate and easy to read, and he writes as one with a lifetime of experience. The last chapter, in which he details being thankful through his diagnosis and treatment, is incredibly moving. This makes my list of top 10 discipleship books to read.

[Nyoh Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read piece of write up with a poetic, but practical approach to motivate a thankful habit. We are using it in our school as the main text for Practical Ministry Course.
Thanks Pastor Peter Maiden and may God continue to bless you.

[Aneurin Britton · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly honest, real and helpful book.

[Eilidh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super book! Just the kind of thought provoking book and truth filled book that is needed when we live in such an entitled world!

[Sunnyside1204 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant final book by a man of God.

[Helen Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Timely advice that we need to cultivate a heart of thankfulness to God and not slip into the entitlement spirit of the age

[Susannah Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really really good challenge yet comfort over this topic, written in a raw yet easily digestible way. Great for just reading or as a lone or group study.