If you have frequented this site over the years, you have undoubtedly seen some SquareQuotes—the quotes combined with graphics that I release on a daily basis. A couple of years ago Jules Koblun and I had the idea of combining some fresh SquareQuotes with short devotionals. While she got busy with the designing, I got busy with the writing. Before long we had created Knowing and Enjoying God, the first in what we anticipate will be a number of books in the “Words from the Wise” series.

Knowing and Enjoying God is a series of 101 quotes from Christian authors, with each quote accompanied by a beautiful graphic and a short devotional. The book’s theme is the means of grace (or, if you prefer, spiritual disciplines). We cover the themes of prayer, Bible reading, meditation, worship, ordinances, gratitude, stewardship, and more. All of the quote graphics are original, by which I mean that I have not shared them through social media in the past.
My hope for the book is that it will both edify and encourage–that it will teach readers about the privilege it is to know God and that it will encourage readers to pursue him all the more. I hope it will be a valuable resource for those who may need a short burst of encouragement to strengthen and equip them in the Christian life. I hope it will be as valuable to seasoned believers as to very new ones. And I hope it will also prove suitable as a book to hand an unbeliever to perhaps help them see the beauty of Jesus Christ and the joy that comes to those of us who know him as a friend knows a friend.
The book is available from all the usual retailers in both hardcover and e-book formats, including Amazon and Westminster Books.
Here are a few early reviews:

I hope you will give it a look!
(Long-term readers may be interested to know how this book fits into the timeline of my life. I completed writing it and doing a first round of edits just prior to Nick’s death; final editing took place a couple of months after.)

It’s hard to believe, but it was just a very short time ago that nobody believed in gender identity. At least, nobody believed in what the term has come to encompass today. As with so many social phenomena, it came slowly and then all at once. Suddenly it became an accepted “fact” that sex and gender can no longer be used interchangeably but instead refer to completely different realities so that a woman can have the body of a man and a man the body of a woman. Suddenly it became an accepted “fact” that the way to approach gender dysphoria is not to provide therapy to the mind but to provide surgery for the body. Suddenly it became an act of violence to fail to use another person’s preferred pronouns and an act of hate speech to use another person’s “deadname.”

It is difficult to keep up with such a swift and irrational transformation. It can be difficult to sort through the new terminology and to think through the new distinctions. Thankfully, Christians are being well-resourced with books that can help. Now on store shelves is Does God Care About Gender Identity? by Samuel Ferguson, a short book that forms part of a new series from The Gospel Coalition called “TGC Hard Questions.”
“This booklet is written for those interested in or concerned by today’s evolving views on sex and gender,” Ferguson says in his introduction. “It’s grown out of occasions I’ve had as a pastor to walk with individuals who experience gender dysphoria and their families. Whether you’re a Christian, a parent, or just someone curious about gender, identity, and our shared longings for transformation, I’ve written this book for you. I hope you’ll find here compassion, clarity, and some guidance around this complex and sensitive topic.”
He focuses on two themes: deeper understanding and compassionate engagement. Under the banner of deeper understanding, he wants to inform his readers about today’s transgender movement—its practices and key beliefs—and he wants to compare these to the Bible. He looks at three big questions: (1) Is the body integral or incidental to gender identity? (2) What is the transformative path out of dysphoria and toward wholeness? (3) Does God assign our biological sex and gender…? If so, how can we tell, and how does this affect the way we live out our maleness and femaleness?
Under the banner of compassionate engagement, he asks what biblical compassion and leadership might look like when caring for someone who has declared themselves transgender. How can the church help parents whose children say they are trans? How can the church relate to people who have changed their gender identity? And how can Christians see gender identity not as a threat but as an opportunity for discipleship?
Because this is just a brief book, Ferguson needs to move quickly, but that doesn’t stop him from offering helpful explanations. For example, he outlines the three core beliefs of the transgender movement and explains each one: my identity is self-determined; my feelings, not my body, determine my gender; and we find wholeness through external, not internal, change. All three of these beliefs are novel and all three are opposed to Scripture. Together they lead to this: change the body to heal the mind.
But what does Scripture say? Our human identity is a gift from our Creator; human beings are embodied, so gender is never less than our biology; and God’s pathway for change is transformation, not transition. According to God, then, what we have to offer those with gender dysphoria is not medical transition but spiritual transformation that begins with the mind, culminates in the future resurrection, and is carried out in the meantime by the Spirit in the context of the local church.

The transgender movement’s agent of transition is the scalpel; Christianity’s agent of transformation is the Spirit. The transgender movement sees change as primarily cosmetic, on the surface; Christians understand change to be inner and deep—it begins in the soul, moves through our character, and culminates in a perfected, imperishable, embodied existence (1 Cor. 15:42–49). A transition takes place in a clinic or on an operating table, but transformation is lived out in the context of the church, with God’s people, the family of faith.

Those who are confused by all the talk of gender identity will appreciate this book as a helpful explainer and guide. Those who are attempting to help or lead others through struggles will appreciate it as a trusted, albeit basic, resource. It’s the kind of book churches may wish to keep on hand and distribute liberally. I expect many Christians will benefit from reading it and thus I highly recommend it.
(Does God Care About Gender Identity? is one of three volumes that are launching the new series TGC Hard Questions. I also recommend Is Christianity Good for the World? by Sharon James and Why Do We Feel Lonely at Church? by Jeremy Linneman.)
Buy from Amazon

Yup, we are still in Unalaska since all of yesterday’s flights were once again canceled. There is some chance we get off the island on Saturday, but if not, it will be Monday at best. But all is well because we know the one who raises and stills the storms and we are glad enough to be here for as long as he decrees.

My thanks goes to Ligonier Ministries for kindly sponsoring the blog this week and for offering you the ebook edition of The Legacy of Luther as a free download.
Today’s Kindle deals include some older books. I also added some newer ones yesterday.
(Yesterday on the blog: Three Years Later: What I Miss Most)
Critical Grace Theory
You’ll need to block out a bit of time and attention to read this article from Carl Trueman. “Can Christians appropriate modern critical theory, not just the theories we trace back to the Frankfurt School, but contemporary critical theories of race, sexual identity, and gender? The question can be reframed: When secular critical theory turns from analysis to transformation, does it see grace and forgiveness as means of social change?”
You Want People To Think Better of You Than You Deserve
“It is an unfortunate fact that you and I want people to think better of us than we deserve.” This is true. And worth thinking about.
Test, Seek, Pray, Fight: The Pursuit of Holy Affections
“Early morning hours are precious. The house is still, quiet. The aroma of coffee wafts from the steaming mug. A single lamp illuminates the chair and table. Here is a sanctuary, a peaceful place of communion between a man and his God. And yet on many days, it is anything but peaceful.”
A Lesson from Nearly Uprooted Trees
Lara reflects on a difficult time. “Tears in my hands and babies at my feet, I often asked God why he put us through it all. What was the purpose? What good did any of it do? What use was it to batter us so harshly with so many storms at once? Our life was fairly smooth until that year, then our roots were nearly torn from the ground. My faith felt frail.”
Autumn
Here’s a short, sweet reflection on autumn.
You’re Not Waiting Alone
“My eyelids lift in the dark of my bedroom. The autumn sun still sleeps below the horizon. I grab the phone on my nightstand and skim through the bolded headlines on the screen. Another attack in the middle east. Threats of terrorism. Flooding. Drought. Another shooting. My head hurts, my heart weeps, and I’m tired of waiting.”
Flashback: What the Wayward Wants
“To reach the prodigal, you must first crawl into the story of the prodigal.” It is an ugly story, but one God so often delights in ending with the prodigal returning to all that was once his.

God knew what we were before conversion- wicked, guilty and defiled; yet He loved us. He knows what we will be after conversion- weak, erring and frail; yet He loves us. —J.C. Ryle