A La Carte (February 12)
Good morning and happy Monday! Grace and peace to you today.
Today’s Kindle deals include some good picks from Crossway.
I know there are many of us who want to read more than we actually do. Tony Reinke has some tips for us—tips on how to find and protect the time we need to get that reading done.
Reuben considers the recent upsurge in attention to the importance of gratitude and says, “In some respects, the broad recognition of the importance of gratitude is remarkable. When we see in Scripture how fundamental thankfulness should be in the life of a believer who fears God, it is striking to find the same emphasis among those who don’t know God through Christ.”
Lois offers some thoughts on what to do when you are longing for some encouragement.
Elizabeth Turnage: “When I tell people I’ve written a book about preparing for glory, about living and dying in the hope of heaven, I get mixed reactions. Some people wonder why we would need to ‘prepare’ for glory. Others wonder, frankly, if I’m being morbid. Good questions.”
“Preaching is a tricky business. It’s something I’ve done a lot of over the past thirty years but I still sometimes feel like a novice. Learning about preaching from other preachers is essential, both listening to their sermons and reading what they write about the craft.” Here are a few graphic-based tips.
Should Christians pray those “vengeance Psalms?” Different Christians have taken different perspectives on the question as Dan Crabtree shows here.
Wisdom gently whispers there is an Author telling a story whose end will be as wonderful as its beginning, whose final chapter will be as breathtaking as its first.
If all men’s sins were divided into two bundles, half of them would be sins of the tongue.
—Charles Spurgeon
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A La Carte (December 29)
May the Lord bless and keep you today.
Westminster Books has a lot of great deals in their year-end clearance sale.
Logos users, remember to grab the free and nearly free books of the month before it’s over.
Biblical Archaeology’s Top 10 Discoveries of 2021
CT has a roundup of the year’s top discoveries in biblical archaeology.
Between a Hamster and a Hard Place
Dan DeWitt turns an unfortunate Christmas gift into a lesson about the holiday season. “This is life though, isn’t it? We have Christmas. We celebrate. We enjoy the moment. And then real life rushes at us without as much as a warning.”
4 Questions for Your Bible Reading in 2022
Glenna Marshall offers four common but important questions to ask of your Bible reading. They are designed to help you read with greater intentionality.
4 Things Believers with Bipolar Disorder Want You to Know
Lieryn Barnett: “It’s difficult to know how to help or respond when you learn someone in your church family is suffering from bipolar, but a good place to start is striving to understand the struggle. Here are four things to know as you walk beside your brother or sister.”
Resolve to Grow in Godliness in 2022
There is some good counsel here, courtesy Jerry Bridges, about resolving to grow in godliness.
Photographer’s Solar Photo Reveals the Twisted ‘Surface’ of the Sun
PetaPixel has a fascinating new photo of the sun taken by an astrophotographer.
Flashback: How Should Christians Use Guns?Revisiting an old debate and some of the positions that were advanced…
Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter. —Charles Spurgeon
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Christ’s Second Advent
It does us good to consider the return of Jesus Christ. When times are difficult, when life is sorrowful, when we are just plain weary, it does us good to shift our hearts from our circumstances to Christ’s sure and certain return. That’s the purpose of this sweet poem by Reginald Heber. “The Lord shall come,” he assures us…
The Lord will come: the earth shall quake,The mountains to their centre shake;And, withering from the vault of night,The stars shall pale their feeble light.
The Lord shall come! but not the sameAs once in lowliness He came,A silent Lamb before his foes,A weary man and full of woes.
The Lord shall come! a dreadful form,With rainbow-wreath and robes of storm,On cherub wings and wings of wind,Appointed Judge of all mankind.
Can this be He, who wont to strayA pilgrim on the world’s high way;Oppressed by power, and mocked by pride,The Nazarene—the crucified?
While sinners in despair shall call,“Rocks hide us; mountains on us fall;”The saints, ascending from the tomb,Shall joyful sing, “The Lord is come!” -
A La Carte (October 10)
Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians!
Today’s Kindle deals include several volumes of the excellent Preaching the Word series of commentaries (which are ideal for devotional reading or sermon preparation or anything in between).
(Yesterday on the blog: Seasons of Sorrow Application Questions & Group Study Guide)
When My Iranian Friend Took Mohler’s Parking Spot
This one gave me a laugh. “‘Hi, this is campus po-lees,’ began the thick Kentucky accent. ‘Are you A.W.?’ ‘I am. Is everything OK?’ I replied, suddenly nervous. ‘Well… I got an Eye-rain-eeun here who says he’s comin’ to your place, but I caught him parkin’ in the president’s parking spot.’”
Gather to Grow
Karen tells of how she left the local church and what eventually brought her back.
Hearts Painted by the Word Again and Again
“The job of painting the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is never-ending. I heard once that they paint it end-to-end, but by the time they get to the end—however many years that may take—it is time to start over.” This leads to a helpful reflection.
The Reformation Ideal of Marriage
Michael Haykin: “Our memory of what took place during the sixteenth-century Reformation has been somewhat selective. As heirs of Reformed Protestantism, we have remembered it chiefly as a recovery of the gospel and the biblical way of worship. But we also need to recall it as a great recovery of the biblical understanding of marriage.”
Offers of Safety Are Not Always Safe
“When my children were young, I thought the best way to protect them from the evils of the world was avoidance. And that may be true for the very young. But as they grew up, I realized they were going to be young men out in the world some day. It would be better to teach them what was right and wrong with the things they would face.”
Reading Across the Chapter Breaks in 2 Timothy
This article reminds us that chapter breaks in the Bible are not original and sometimes very unhelpful.
Flashback: Rule #5: Ponder the Brevity of Life (8 Rules for Growing in Godliness)
Even the greatest believers will still be laden by sin as they cross the finish and receive their crown. The holiest saints will still be stained with sin, drawn to evil. It is only in the presence of Christ where they will experience final deliverance from the power of sin and final transformation to complete holiness.The man who measures himself by the size of his bank balance will never have enough money to seem big in his own eyes. —Al Stewart
