Yesterday was my first day at my desk in a while and it felt so good to be back! I’m so grateful that a pretty significant infection can be defeated by $20 worth of prescriptions. What a world we live in! I’m looking forward to sharing some new articles beginning on Monday.

Logos has launched a new sale so you can save money on all things sermons. Remember they’ve also got a Pastor Appreciation Sale going on.
When Being Affirming Isn’t Loving
Not surprisingly, Carl Trueman has something to say about Andy Stanley’s (and Pope Francis’) recent attempts to be affirming. “Prophets warn the church when she is too close to the world. They do not go to the world to tell the pundits that the church is not worldly enough.” (On the same topic, see Sam Allberry’s article at CT: Andy Stanley’s ‘Unconditional’ Contradiction.”)
My God, My God, Why Have You NOT Forsaken Me?
“I was a rebel and a deceiver. I loved my sin. Why not forsake me? Why would He accept me?”
Dagon’s Head and Goliath’s Head
Mitch draws a comparison between two stories that may not, at face value, seem to have much in common.
What Old Testament Promises Are for Me?
Christians often struggle to discern how Old Testament promises apply to us today. John Piper offers some useful guidance here.
Already Unique
“I saw an article recently that focused on how three different men had each created their own unique fashion styles. All of them looked quite different from each other, and all of them had managed to combine their clothes in ways that really did stand out from most of the styles on the street. The point of the article was to explore how these men had been able to craft styles that were actually unique, and how you and I could do the same.”
Learning Dependence on the Lord
Barbaranne Kelly writes about learning her limitations. “I consider myself to be a relatively capable person. I know that I have limits, but I thought my capabilities outweighed them. I used to believe that God wouldn’t give me more than I could handle, until he started giving me more than I could handle. I’m now decades into learning how very weak and dependent—how incapable—I am, and how very strong, faithful, and capable my Lord is.”
Flashback: 6 Great Reasons To Study Doctrine
Your love for God is limited by your knowledge of him, so that you can really only love him as far as you know him. As the depth of your knowledge grows, so too does the depth of your love.

Inside and outside the church, the way you live should commend the gospel just as much as the words you say. —Alistair Begg

The sky was still dark as I left the house this morning. When I went overseas just three weeks ago the sun had already risen by this time and I was walking in dawn’s early light. But summer has given way to fall and the nights have quickly grown longer. I press “play” in my Bible app and set out.

I round a bend and in the corner of my eye see an unusually bright star in the southern sky. I make a note to look it up when I return, though I know I’ll probably have forgotten by then. I realize my mind has wandered and while I still hear David Cochran Heath’s voice in my AirPods, I have lost track of chapter and verse. “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,” I hear him say, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch…” Ah yes, Jeremiah 23, one of the sweetest chapters in the whole book. “And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’”
My plan prompts me to skip ahead to Jeremiah 26, then to Psalm 77 and James 2. When I’ve heard “for as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead” it is time to pray and, as it happens, to turn to the southeast. I begin to thank the Lord for giving me the precious gift of faith and to ask him to help me be diligent in showing my faith by my works. As I glance toward where the sun will soon rise, I see that the sky has begun to turn shades of pink and purple.
I spend some time confessing sin and making requests on behalf of family members, and while I do so the sky continues to brighten. As I begin to pray for the people in my church, the pinks and purples push higher into the sky while the horizon begins to glow a dull and then bright orange, like someone is slowly turning a dial to increase the intensity of the colors. It is quickly turning into one of the most stunning sunrises I have ever seen.
I am now into the final blocks of my walk and, though I have to head west, I can barely bring myself to turn my back to the wonder of that rising sun. Again and again, I stop to turn around and admire it for a few more moments. I am tempted to snap a photo, but I know there is no camera sensor in the world capable of capturing so many colors and such dynamic range. I find myself wondering about the human eye and about how much of the beauty is escaping me because of the limitations of my humanity. I wonder if God is laughing with joy right now at the wonder of what he has created, of what he has painted across a southern Ontario sky.
And as I approach my home I have this thought: God loves to add a little extra beauty. God could have made every time of day the same, but he gives sunrises—he adds a little extra beauty. He could have made every drink as plain as water, but he gives us coffee—he adds a little extra beauty. He could have made every piece of music have just a melody, but he gives us harmony—he adds a little extra beauty. He gives us peacocks, rainbow boas, and parrotfish, he gives us orchids, hibiscus, and bird of paradise flowers, he gives us the seasonings that combine to make Thai red curry, to make Vietnamese pho, and, best of all, to make Indian butter chicken. He adds a little extra beauty to excite our senses and delight our hearts.
Today I am delighting not only in beauty, but in that extra little bit of beauty God so often chooses to display. And I find the challenge growing within: If God chooses to add a little extra beauty, shouldn’t I? In those matters God calls me to do, shouldn’t I go beyond merely getting them done and instead add an extra bit of effort? Wouldn’t I be most closely imitating him if I went beyond merely completing the task and chose instead to do it with joy, with excellence, with a desire to in some way make it beautiful? With that on my heart, my walk closes with a prayer: “God, in whatever it is you call me to do today, let me add a little extra beauty.”

May the Lord be with you and bless you today.
There are some Christian and general market Kindle deals available today.
(Yesterday on the blog: We Who Have Few Talents and Sparse Gifts)

There is a lot to chew on in this article about raising children to be believers. For what it’s worth, I might not push quite so hard toward keeping the whole family together the whole service as a necessary action, but I do think there’s something to be said for minimizing the role of programs that take kids from the public worship service.

“Recent headlines about the Prince and Princess of Wales have been something of a depressing affair. The story is domestic and mundane… [But] more interesting than the story itself is the story it tells about human nature, particularly in our present cultural moment. There is an element of Promethean paranoia around the public reaction to a rejected photo…”

“If anyone should tell the story of how secular thinkers are considering Christianity again, it is someone with a front-row seat to the show.” And, indeed, someone with that perspective has written about a surprising trend away from atheism.

That’s a good question with an interesting answer. Why did plural eldership decline among Baptists?

“They were gaining on me. Every breath I took was weighed down by the awareness that they were close behind. I had entered at the narrow gate, but somehow, they had managed to follow me onto the path. I could hear their taunts. Every one of their footsteps was like the sound of a war drum. There are days when they are out of sight. During those times, I feel the warm breeze of the Celestial City beckoning me homeward, but even then, I know they are lying in wait.”

Tony Reinke answers as John Piper in this article at TGC.

It seems to me that God often prefers to work with what is most broken. He loves to display his power with what has been most shattered. 

Sin is us looking for love in all the wrong places. Reflections of God in creation create wonder, but not the satisfaction we really want.
—Steve DeWitt