The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 
Westminster Books has a sale on the third volume of Jonathan Gibson’s devotional trilogy that follows the liturgical calendar.
There is yet again a small collection of Kindle deals for you.

This is very troubling. Hopefully you have one of your four monthly articles from World to read it. “Pornhub is coming for our children and our men.  A recent undercover investigation reveals the nation’s largest pornography distributor welcomes pre-teens and attempts to sway straight men toward LGBTQ pornography through gradual integration of unorthodox material.”

Ashley Kim asks some thought-provoking questions about ChatGPT and the potential cost of committing ourselves to use it. “I want to address Christians who have a casual relationship with ChatGPT―Christians like you, perhaps, who might not have any grand ambitions beyond maximizing the efficiency of drafting emails or curating search results. No big deal, right?”

T.M. Suffield looks at Revelation’s strange description of the New Jerusalem (e.g. the fact that it’s said to be a giant cube) and digs into its beautiful symbolism.

Shane Rosenthal offers a perfect answer to a big question. “What do you think every Christian should place at the very top of their list? What biblical idea should be considered the thing of first importance?”

I can’t deny that I’ve become skeptical that anyone successfully lives by such principles for long. Still, I appreciate what Seth Troutt says in this article and what he prescribes. “For Christians to thrive in the modern era, there are two spiritual disciplines we must adopt: Digital Detox (fasting from screens) and Intentional Ignorance (fasting from information).”
Burial vs Cremation
A couple of days ago, TGC published an article by Justin Dillehay that made the case that, while the Bible does not forbid cremation, burial better represents the Christian view of death and resurrection. See “Cremation or Burial: Does Our Choice Matter?” Stephen Kneale countered this with his perspective that the Bible offers us freedom on the matter. See “Cremation or burial: why I’m not convinced it matters nearly as much as some think.” This is a helpful pair of articles when considering an issue we all need to face.

… though we know perfection is impossible, don’t we all sometimes still grow frustrated at the sheer messiness of Christian individuals and Christian churches? Don’t we all sometimes face the temptation to pack up and move on when our fellow believers act like the sinners they are?

Alas! for those who while trying to prove that Jonah was never swallowed of a whale, themselves get swallowed of the whale of unbelief, which digests but never ejects its victims.
—De Witt Talmage

Sometimes we are forced to have conversations that are almost too strange to believe—conversations, for example, in which we insist that there is such a thing as a gender binary. Yet today so many people are convinced that gender is a mere construct of an oppressive culture. Gender, they believe, is a decision we make for ourselves and not one grounded in any biological reality (not to mention any divine design). In his book Does God Care About Gender Identity?, Samuel Ferguson expresses the importance of teaching and displaying the beauty and goodness of gendered bodies. I was particularly struck by one simple application—singing in the local church. When we sing as men and women, there is a special way in which we display God’s design. I’ll allow him to explain.

The beauty of gender difference adorns God’s world. We need to help the next generation see and honor it. As a pastor, I have the joy of seeing couples meet, marry, and have children. The fruit of their union reminds us that only a biological male and biological female can produce life. “People often present the sex binary as oppressive,” writes Rebecca McLaughlin. “But at its very heart, the male-female binary is creative.” In appropriate ways, parents must teach and remind their children that the complementarity of the two-gendered world—the dance of male and female—is the creative source that stands behind each one of us. By God’s design, every human being owes his or her existence to one man and one woman.
Another place the beauty of gender shows up is in church worship. In my church, when songs have parts for men and women, the guys can’t help but sing a little louder when it’s their turn. They send a low rumble through the pews. When the women have their go, it’s as if a bright and gentle joy enfolds the congregation. When all the voices finally sing together, one hears, even feels, the truth and goodness of our gendered world. Surely this will be an enduring display of our maleness and femaleness as we worship the Lamb in heaven (Rev. 5:9; 14:3; 15:3). Christians must point out this beauty to the next generation whenever we experience it. We must celebrate the goodness of God’s design, that we are our bodies, that our gendered bodies are temples for the Holy Spirit, made to glorify God (1 Cor. 6:19–20), and that this is anything but restrictive—it’s beautiful.

Speaking broadly, there are two approaches to daily Bible-reading: reading for intimacy or reading for familiarity. Intimacy with the Bible comes by slow, meditative reading that focuses on small portions—deep study of books, chapters, and verses. Familiarity with the Bible comes through faster reading of larger portions—the entire sweep of the biblical narrative. Both are perfectly good approaches to the Bible and Christians thrive on a healthy mixture of the two. There is great benefit in knowing the Bible as a whole (familiarity) and in knowing the most important parts in detail (intimacy). (On this note, see my article “Intimacy or Familiarity.”)

My favorite daily Bible-reading plan is the 5 Day Bible Reading Program. I have successfully used it for many years and intend to use it again in 2022. I gladly commend it to you.
It has several features I especially appreciate:

It is a familiarity plan that covers the entire text of the Bible over the course of the year. Those who follow it will read every word of the Bible in the year ahead.
It is a pseudo-chronological plan that covers the text of the Bible in the order the events happened (with the exception of Job which comes at the end). Thus, for example, the Psalms come at appropriate moments in the life of David, the books of Kings and Chronicles are read in harmony, and so on. This helps set the events in their historical context. Yet even though it’s chronological, it’s only pseudo-chronological. There are Old Testament and New Testament readings each day and the gospels are interspersed through the year. I find this an ideal compromise over a strictly chronological program in which you read the entire OT before touching the NT.
It is a 5-day plan. A benefit of a 5-day plan (as opposed to a 7-day plan) is that there is less chance of falling far behind. At 5 days per week it is far more doable than at 7 days—there is always a chance to catch up. Also, it allows a day or two of reading something different for those who, for example, like to read and ponder the sermon text on a Sunday morning or for those who don’t do personal devotions on Sunday.
It is a free plan. It’s free for the taking! They’ve got a nice little print-out you can download, print, fold in half, and put inside your Bible. It’s got boxes to tick as you complete each day and each week. Or you can use the ReadingPlan app to organize the plan even while reading through Logos, the ESV app, or a printed Bible. Though it is free, they have launched a Patreon account for those who would like early access, access to more features, or who would just like to offer a bit of support.

The 5 Day Bible Reading Program is a free download and will be available on December 26 (with Patrons able to get it before then). I echo their hope for the program: “God’s blessings rest with those who will read, understand, and live by His Word. May this guide help you to that noble end. ‘Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path’ (Psalms 119:105).”
(Parenthetical Note: If you prefer an “intimacy” plan, I recommend the Reading the Bible with John Stott guides and/or the God’s Word for You series. Both are excellent.)