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

Today’s Kindle deals include some books for adults and some of kids.
(Yesterday on the blog: Do You Knock at the Gates of the Grave?)
How and when was the canon of Scripture established, and by whom? (Video)
Stephen Nichols does a great job of describing how the canon of Scripture was established.
It’s February: Check on Your Single Friends
Lisa LaGeorge asks us to remember our single friends in February. “February breaks me a little, and I know I’m not the only one. If feels silly to even think about sometimes. The flowers don’t last, the chocolate is generally sub-par, and all my married friends roll their eyes about how overrated going out to dinner is. But there is still that thing about wanting to be wanted.”
Kevin DeYoung on “What is The Mission of The Church?” @ The Radius Missiology Conference
June 29-30, 2022 @ Christ Covenant Church in Matthews, NC. Kevin DeYoung will look at what is and is not the mission of the church. (Sponsored Link)
Burial is Hopeful
“A planter in a garden, with carefully labelled markers by each tiny seed so that the gardener would remember what eat seed was as it grew. When we bury our bodies we plant a seed in the ground, waiting for it to grow into an oak of righteousness in the new creation. We remind ourselves that what is now is brief, and what comes after is long and joyous. Burial is fundamentally hopeful.”
The Beijing Olympics: Pray for the Persecuted in China
Randy Alcorn sees the Olympics as an opportunity to remind us to pray for the persecuted Christians in China. He also discusses whether Christians should boycott the Olympics because of China’s persecution and other human rights abuses.
Freedom from the Tyranny of “Success”
Aaron Armstrong: “All of us have moments where we don’t respond to God’s blessings to others in the way we would want or expect, whether His blessings to an individual, to an organization, or a church. We start to play comparison games, even if only in our heads. We start to wonder why this person or that church is more successful than us.”
The Difference between the Apple and the Worm
Denny Burk helps us distinguish between the essence of a doctrine and its “accidents.” “As I have observed popular debates about complementarianism over the years, I have noticed how people often confuse what the doctrine is with other associations that have little or nothing to do with the teaching.”
Flashback: Travel Tips from a Journey Round the World
I spent a lot of last year traveling the world to carry out research for my forthcoming church history project–a project that took me to 24 countries across 6 continents. Now that the travel is winding down, I’m beginning to think about a few of the travel lessons I learned along the way. I decided to jot them down and share them in case they prove helpful to you next time you set out on a journey of your own.

Surely God will not wink at their sin who wink at his dishonor. —George Gillespie

One Audiobooks is giving away Following God Fully by Joel Beeke & Michael Reeves.

Westminster Books has a deal on a fantastic new introduction to church history by Simonetta Carr.
There are a few more Kindle deals today as well.
Died: Queen Elizabeth II, British Monarch Who Put Her Trust in God
Here is Christianity Today’s obituary for Queen Elizabeth II who died yesterday. I appreciate its emphasis on her faith (as I’ve heard from a number of people who knew her that it was extremely important to her).
The Quiet Faith of Queen Elizabeth II
Here’s Carl Trueman: “A friend who once had the privilege of being a royal chaplain and spending a weekend at Balmoral Castle confirmed that the conversations he had with the queen revealed her to be a thoughtful, devout Christian. As a humble Christian she took her earthly vocation seriously, placing the needs of the office and of the people she ruled before her own.” (I think I’ve spoken to that same friend.)
Memento Mori: Death Through the Ages
I found this a very interesting reflection on death. “Given that the Christian tradition has been the dominant influence on Western thought for the past 1700 years, the Christian conception of death has been, until recently, the de facto Western conception. And it’s remained remarkably consistent up until the present. What changed significantly was enthusiasm about death.”
Serotonin and Depression: 4 Questions and Answers About a New Study
This is a very helpful look at that recent study that said we’ve had depression all wrong.
Dating & your unborn grandchildren
“What’s dating got to do with your unborn grandchildren? Much more than you’d think.” This article explains.
You’re From Fried Chicken and Beef Sandwich?
“When words get adopted from one language into another, unpredictable things happen to them. There’s almost always some correlation with its new meaning and its former one, though sometimes even this can be almost completely lost in adaptation.” Here’s an interesting example.
Leaders are Deep Readers
If leaders are deep readers, what does our seeming inability to read deeply mean for the future?
Flashback: The High Calling of Bringing Order From Chaos
So much of the work we do in our families, in our homes, in our churches, in our vocations, is the work of bringing order from chaos. And this is good work.

The erosion of character usually begins with neglect: we stop reading the Word, or worshiping with God’s people, or taking time to meditate and pray. —Warren Wiersbe

It is a question an author once asked, a question that intrigued me. Which man was more free: was it the emperor or was it the missionary? Was it Nero or was it Paul?

Was it Nero in his palace surrounded by attendants, his table overflowing with delicacies, his eyes overwhelmed with visual delights? Or was it Paul in his prison cell surrounded by soldiers, bound by chains, dependent upon the charity of others? Was it the man who was free to come and go as he pleased or the man who was held captive?
It is always an exercise in encouragement to read the book of Philippians, but the encouragement flows all the more when we consider the context in which Paul wrote it. Scholars agree that Paul wrote this letter from prison and most likely the prison in Rome in which he was confined around 62 AD. He writes to the citizens of a Roman colony in Philippi to remind them how to live as citizens of a heavenly kingdom here on earth. He writes to encourage them and to rejoice in all God has done and is doing. He writes as a man who, though bound, is free as free can be.
It was not when he was freely treading the road between Athens and Corinth but when he was a prisoner of the Imperial Guard that he said, “rejoice in the Lord.”
It was not when he was standing before great crowds of eager listeners but when he was able to speak to only one or two at a time that he wrote with humility, “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.”
It was not when he was receiving acclaim and affirmation but when he himself was in the darkest of circumstances and facing the possibility of death that he commanded, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing.”
It was while he was within the stark walls of a prison that he wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” It was when his mind may have been overwhelmed with anxieties that he commended the value of constraining our minds to think about whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. It was when he was indefinitely confined and uncertain of his future that he said, “I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.”
What could have been the epistle of fear is instead the epistle of faith. What could have been the epistle of grumbling is instead the epistle of cheer. What could have been the epistle of doubting God’s goodness is instead the epistle of hope, joy, and spiritual encouragement.
Nero may have been nominally free, but was more rightly bound—bound by sin, bound by paranoia, bound by dissipation despite his high circumstances. His life would end in an ignoble death that was either by his own hand or by the hand of a friend. His reputation is one of abnormal cruelty and he has gone down in history as the man who serenely played music while Rome burned around him, possibly at his command.
Paul may have been nominally bound, but was more rightly free—free to love, free to serve, free to worship despite his low circumstances. His life would end in the glory of martyrdom and he would gladly face the executioners to receive the crown of glory. His reputation is one of unsurpassed devotion to God and he has gone down in history as the foremost theologian of the Christian faith.
So which man was more free: was it the emperor or was it the missionary? Was it Nero or was it Paul? The answer is plain as day. And the answer challenges us that we are most truly never bound, for nothing can imprison our hearts and keep us from rejoicing. Nothing can bind our mouths and keep us from professing Christ. Nothing can bind our abilities and keep us from serving others. Nothing can keep us from glorifying God and serving out the purpose he has assigned to us, whether in a palace or a prison. We are always free to love, free to serve, free to worship the God who has saved us and will someday receive us to his side.