We are not lacking when it comes to daily devotionals. To the contrary, there are more options than we could possibly read in a lifetime. Yet not all daily devotionals are created equal, so it can be difficult to find a good one—one that is worthy of a full year’s attention.

Everyday Gospel

Several years ago, Paul Tripp wrote New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional and it quickly proved not only popular but also meaningful and helpful. It has sold over a million copies and guided all those people to better understand the gospel and apply it to their lives. Writing a 365-part book is a major task, so it is no great surprise that it took ten years for him to write another. But we have it at last and it is called Everyday Gospel: A Daily Devotional Connecting Scripture to All of Life.
Everyday Gospel has both similarities and differences when compared to New Morning Mercies. It is similar in that it provides a full year of devotions and in its relentless focus on the good news of the gospel. The foremost difference is that it follows a one-year Bible reading plan that leads from Genesis to Revelation. Therefore, each of the entries reflects on that day’s Scripture reading. The purpose of it all is to connect Scripture with life—to show how the truths of God’s Word are meant to transform all you are and all you do. And that’s true whether the passage in question is within the application sections of one of Paul’s epistles or the sometimes hard-to-understand narratives of the Old Testament. We know that all of Scripture is breathed out by God and therefore profitable (see 2 Timothy 3:16-17), and a key part of Tripp’s task in this work is to show how.
Everyday Gospel comes in a standard hardcover format that is about 500 pages long, though I suspect leather or leather-like versions will be available in the future. It also comes in a format that integrates the text of the ESV so that the day’s Bible reading and devotional are within the same volume. This edition is called ESV Everyday Gospel Bible: Connecting Scripture to All of Life and is available in hardcover, leather, and TruTone (a kind of faux leather finish).
While I have not yet read every entry, I have read enough to know that it’s a devotional I will recommend freely and distribute widely. New Morning Mercies has been on our living room book table for years and Everyday Gospel will soon be joining it. I would encourage you to consider doing likewise.

May the God of love and peace be with you today.

Today’s Kindle deals include a series of deals from Crossway.
(Yesterday on the blog: The Song I Sing in the Darkness)
The Americans Who Don’t Want to Leave Afghanistan
“Every time President Biden or Press Secretary Jen Psaki talk about the American withdrawal from Afghanistan they refer to evacuating Americans ‘who want to leave Afghanistan.’ On the surface it seems like an odd description. Don’t all Americans want to leave Afghanistan? Who actually wants to stay in a place where the Taliban are figuring out what it looks like to rule again?” I think you probably know who wants to stay…
Reductionism: The Disease That Breeds Conflict
Pierce Taylor Hibbs writes about some contemporary conflicts and says, “beneath all that conflict, there’s a disease. It’s what we might call a mental disease: reductionism.”
Getty Music Sing! Conference
Here’s one last reminder that the Getty Sing! conference is continuing today both in-person and online. Those who tune in to the livestream will hear lots of great music, plus speaking from John Lennox, Trip Lee, Paul David Tripp, and others. Register here and use code VIRTUAL10 to save 10% on your registration.
How Do We Discern False Teachers?
John Piper: “Let me give you four biblical ways to assess whether someone is a false teacher. I do this just because the Bible agrees with you that we should be alert to the reality of false teachers, and it gives us tests.”
What Does It Mean to Weep with Those Who Weep?
Kevin DeYoung writes about what it does (and doesn’t) mean to weep with those who weep.
Uniquely Gifted: Overcoming Comparison
“Healthy competition can lead us to work harder and achieve more than we ever thought possible. However, competition’s ugly cousin, comparison, promises to help us achieve more but often leaves us in despair.”
After Death, Life
What hope we have! “There is one truth in the glorious panoply that is the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3) that is particularly special to me. One that stands out as a shining beacon on the darkest of days, one that daily speaks to my heart and revives me in the truth. And it, dear friends, is this: A man walked out of the back of death.”
Flashback: 5 Ways to Ruin a Perfectly Good Dating Relationship
…the wonder of marriage is that a messed up, sinful man actually can marry a messed up, sinful woman and somehow build a beautiful, life-long relationship that shines a spotlight on God and his gospel.

The church … is a hospital in which nobody is completely well, and anyone can relapse at any time. —J.I. Packer

I have often said that I don’t know what I think or what I believe until I write about it. Writing is how I reflect, how I meditate, how I chart life’s every journey. In the waning weeks of 2020 my dear son Nick passed away very suddenly and very unexpectedly. And when that sorrow was still new in my heart, when the tears were still fresh in my eyes, when I barely knew up from down and here from there, I began to write. I had to write because I had to know what to think and what to believe, what to feel and what to do. I had to know whether to rage or to worship, whether to run or to bow, whether to give up or to go on. I had to know how to comfort my wife, how to console my daughters, how to shore up my own faith. I put fingers to keyboard and pen to paper to find out.

In the weeks and months that followed, I wrote a series of meditations, some of which I shared through this blog, but many of which I did not. As that first year drew to a close and I came to the first anniversary of Nick’s death, I wrote one final meditation, then sent it all to my publisher in the hope that it would be able to bless and serve others. The result is Seasons of Sorrow: The Pain of Loss and the Comfort of God which will be published on September 13. The book is not a thorough theology of grief or an exhaustive tome on suffering, but neither is it meant to be. It is a real-time, first-person, present-tense series of reflections on the pain that comes with loss and the comfort that God provides. It is my fervent prayer that it will give help, hope, and comfort to others who are enduring hardship as well as to those who may be seeking to help them.
I sent the manuscript to some friends and asked if they would consider reading it and providing some words of endorsement. All were kind enough to do so and you can read their words below.
It would mean a lot to me, and be helpful to the publisher, if you would consider pre-ordering Seasons of Sorrow. Pre-ordering a book helps the booksellers gauge interest and, if the results are good, to determine how they will give it attention as it releases. In other words, if it is something you would order anyway, it would be helpful if you would order it in advance. Here are a few of the stores that already have it listed for pre-order:

Endorsements

‘If ever there was a book Tim Challies needed to write, it’s this one. And it’s a book I needed to read. Within these pages, you will do more than enter Tim’s story of enormous loss; you will come out on the other side having gained a softer heart and a renewed courage to persevere through your own dark seasons of affliction.’ — Joni Eareckson Tada, founder of the Joni and Friends International Disability Center
‘Seasons of Sorrow is a beautiful book. Reading it is like holding a precious gift, like standing on holy ground.’ — Paul David Tripp, pastor, speaker, author of New Morning Mercies and Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense
‘Seasons of Sorrow cut straight to my soul. I read it within a few weeks of the unexpected deaths of two close friends and while my wife struggles bravely with stage 4 cancer. Tim’s heartfelt pain and Christ-centered perspective spoke to both my heart and my head.’ — Randy Alcorn, author of Heaven and If God Is Good
‘Tim Challies has taken us into his confidence by writing with such self-searching honesty. It is a painful pleasure to be invited into these sacred moments of grief and to be helped by the reminder that God is too kind ever to be cruel and too wise ever to make a mistake.’ — Alistair Begg, senior pastor, Parkside Church, and host of the Truth for Life radio program
‘Believers need this book, and only Tim Challies could have written it. I am so thankful that Nick was a student at Boyce College, and his influence as a young Christian was remarkable.’ — Albert and Mary Mohler
‘In the pages of this book, grieving people will find companionship, insight, and genuine encouragement for the journey.’ — Nancy Guthrie, author of Hearing Jesus Speak into Your Sorrow and cohost of Respite Retreats for grieving parents
‘This book is brilliant, not because of Tim Challies’s eloquence, but because of his tears! The buoyancy of faith that shines from every page often left me teary-eyed, thanking God for his grace to his people during their darkest times. What priceless grace!’ — Conrad Mbewe, pastor of Kabwata Baptist Church and founding chancellor of the African Christian University
‘If you have lost a loved one to death, as everyone has, or if you have buried a child, as many have, Tim Challies is your friend. Your brother. Your lifeline.’ — Robert and Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, bestselling authors