With this being Mother’s Day, and with Father’s Day fast approaching, it seemed fitting to share something that reflects on the gifts God provides through parents. Charles Spurgeon offered some words that seemed to be just right in the way they associate motherhood and fatherhood with the character of God.

A father’s compassion tenderly lifts up those who fall. When your child falls down, as children are very apt to do, especially when they first begin to walk, don’t you pity them? Is there a nasty cut across the knee, and tears? The mother takes the child up in her arms, and she has some sponge and water to take the grit out of the wound, and she gives a kiss and makes it well. I know mothers have wondrous healing lips! And sometimes, when God’s servants do really fall, it is very lamentable, it is very sad, and it is well that they should cry. It were a pity that they should be willing to lie in the mire, but when they are up again and begin crying, and the wound bleeds—well, let them not keep away from God, for as a father has compassion on his fallen child, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.
Have you come in here tonight with that cut knee of yours? I am sorry you have fallen, but I am glad that our blessed Master is willing to receive you still. Come and trust in him who is mighty to save, just as you did at first, and begin again tonight. Come along! Some of us have had to begin again many times. You do the same. If you are not a saint you are a sinner, and Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Put your trust in him, and you will find restoration, and maybe through that very fall you will learn to be more careful, and from now on you will walk more uprightly, to his honor and glory.

I want to express my gratitude to Burke Care for sponsoring the blog this week. Burke Care is a great option if you’re considering counseling via the internet.

Today’s Kindle deals include a little selection of books.
As a Christian, I Went Down the AI Rabbit Hole. Here Are 12 Things I Discovered
If you read anything at all about AI, this would be a very good candidate. “Over the last few weeks, I’ve taken a deep dive down the AI rabbit hole, listening to podcasts, reading books, taking courses, and testing it myself. And let me say, it’s been a roller coaster ride of emotions, from dread at how this AI might eventually take our jobs and possibly even our freedom, to optimism about what AI could do for us.”
Different Uses for Different Questions
“When we observe a text, we collect all the raw materials for interpretation. And that which drives interpretation forward is the asking of questions. To interpret well, we must be intensely curious and investigate our observations as fully as possible. But the asking of questions ought not be a complete free-for-all. Different kinds of questions have different uses. Let’s take advantage of those differences.”
To the Mom Who Feels Invisible, There is a God Who Sees
Cara Ray speaks to moms and says, “When you feel invisible and alone, be encouraged that not one detail of your life, or one molecule in the universe, goes unnoticed by the God who sees.”
The Funny Thing about Hope
This is a sweet reminder of the power and beauty of hope.
“He Knows All about It”: C. S. Lewis and Psalm 103
This article reminds us that temptation is a form of suffering we must all endure.
How do you get your people to serve evangelistically?
“I am sometimes asked how our little church manages to do as much as it does. Speaking honestly, I do think we punch well above our weight in the evangelistic output stakes. But the question usually concerns how such a little church can manage to do (what is perceived to be) quite so much? Here are some things that we do – that might well be replicable – that may help you as you seek to encourage your church into service.”
Flashback: The Path to Glory
The road is narrow and perilous, often rough underfoot and steeply inclined. But if we are in Christ, we have the assurance that none of the struggles along the way are meaningless, that none of the trials are wasted and none of them unseen by God.

We want Christ’s power to be made perfect through us weak moms. So we will boast all the more gladly of our weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon us. —Gloria Furman

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you today.

My week of vacation is drawing to a close. It has been lovely, but next week I’ll be back to my desk and back to the regular schedule of posting original articles.
Transgression Is Passé
Carl Trueman: “One of the hallmarks of the modern age has been the death of the sacred. Nietzsche’s Madman understood that this was one of the central consequences of the death of God. But he, unlike the polite atheists he berated in the town square, knew that this was both an exhilarating and a terrifying matter: Now human beings would themselves have to rise to be gods, to create their own systems of value, their own sacred rites, their own meaning of life.”
Encouragement for the Weary Mom
Weary moms (and probably well-rested moms as well) may benefit from this one.
With the Wild Animals
Ever wondered why Mark specifically mentioned that Jesus was in the wilderness “with the wild animals?” Mitch Chase explains why that’s meaningful.
Opposition is Bad, but Hell is Worse
“When we proclaim the Word of God, we will often face resistance from every side. We can begin to see the scope of the opposition to the Word of God when we consider two themes Scripture proclaims clearly—sin and the gospel.”
The Fall of Adam
Kim Riddlebarger explains the basis of Adam’s fall into sin. “Most Americans operate on the sincere but misguided assumption that deep down inside people are basically good. When we compare ourselves to others, we might be able to measure up pretty well. Sure, there are some who we might begrudgingly admit are better people than we are, but still, we usually do pretty well in most of our self-comparison tests made against others.”
Store Up Today for Tomorrow’s Crisis
Trevin Wax explains how important it is to store up the right things—character traits in this case—for the days we need them.
Flashback: Post the Strongest Soldiers at the Weakest Gate
It is right to discipline ourselves toward all godliness, but absolutely necessary to carefully customize our habits so they lead us away from that particular weakness, that particular sin, that particular temptation.

Grace is not simply leniency when we have sinned. Grace is the enabling gift of God not to sin. Grace is power, not just pardon. —John Piper

It was a tremendous honor to learn that Seasons of Sorrow has received the annual Christian Book Award for biography & memoir (from the The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association). You can see the winners in other categories here.

There are a few new Kindle deals that are worth considering.
The Inner Circle
“It’s all who you know,” they say. Yet, as Seth Lewis says, “the trouble is that most of us were not born into powerful families. We don’t naturally rub shoulders with people in influential positions. Which means that if you want to get ahead professionally, socially, or any other way, you have to start with the people you already know, and work from their circles of influence into the more powerful circles above them.”
A Response to an Employer’s Request for Pronouns
This aptly shows one way employees can respond to requests for pronouns. Unfortunately I don’t expect that all will meet with the same level of success, though.
Confronting those who sin against us
We know there are times when we must confront other people for their sin. Yet we all learn that “we can ‘go and tell’ or ‘rebuke’ others and end up making the situation far worse than it was before by doing these things in an unhelpful way. We can further damage the relationship, and we can even make the prospect of reconciliation less likely than ever by ‘telling’ and ‘rebuking’ in ways that hurt rather than heal.”
We may need to re-learn the basics
“There are some basic things in churches that we can neglect to do for a whole host of reasons. Not doing them for some time can lead us to forget how to do them altogether. Worse, as we forget how to do some of these basic things, they may have a knock on impact on everything else we might hope to do.”
In Secret
Derek Thomas reminds us that “according to Jesus, it is what we do in secret that matters most.”
The Valley of Humiliation is Green
“Few things strike our sensibilities quite as harshly as humiliation. To be brought low, to fall down, to struggle, to run out of answers, to become weak and poor—this is a hard place to fall into. But what if I told you the ‘valley of humiliation’ is really green?”
Flashback: The One Sure Mark of Christian Maturity
…spiritual maturity is better displayed in acts than in facts. You can know everything there is to know about theology, you can be a walking systematic theology, you can spend a lifetime training others in seminary, and still be desperately immature.

Not going to God because your faith is weak is like not going to the doctor because you feel sick. —Steve Fuller

Good morning. This is just a reminder that I’m on vacation with my family this week and hence posting only the daily A La Carte articles. Original articles will return next week.

Westminster Books is offering a deal on the initial volumes of a neat new series.
There is a handful of new Kindle deals to look at.
Please Don’t Weaponize Good-Faith Disagreement
I think this is a really important one from Trevin. “One of the wearying aspects of church life these days is the constant weaponizing of disagreement. I’m referring to the tendency to take an honest disagreement we have with someone (perhaps over secondary points of theology, or matters of political prudence, or parenting methods) as a sign he or she must be ‘unsound’—and so we wield that disagreement as a weapon, as a way of smearing the person’s entire outlook or ministry.”
We are Defined Not by our Failures, but by Christ’s Victory
Jen tells a beautiful story here by way of illustration. “In the late 1800s a Canadian pharmacist, Dr. William Leslie, sensed God calling him to use his medical skills to advance the gospel on the continent of Africa. He set out for the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1895, joining the missions organization first pioneered by the famed Adoniram Judson in Burma. After a few years, Dr. Leslie met and married another missionary, and together they served in the DRC—offering medical treatment and the gospel.”
Did Jephthah Kill His Daughter to Fulfill a Vow to God?
Believing that Jephthah killed his daughter is not the only common or valid interpretation of this passage.
Where Does Mark End? Handling Snakes and Ancient Manuscripts
And speaking of disputed passages, how about the ending of the Gospel of Mark? This long article from DG explains the uncertainty about exactly where it ends.
Younger Christians Are Looking for Older Saints
Darryl Dash: “To our shame, there was a period in which the aged were seen as unimportant in many churches. In direct contradiction of Scripture, we valued youth. Through our actions, we told older men and women that they no longer mattered and that it was time for the youth to lead now. No longer. I sense the opposite in the church today: a desire for older men and women to emulate.”
7 Ways to Fight Poorly
“If you have breath, you have conflict. And it’s not going to go away.” Ain’t that the truth!
Flashback: We Have the Light So We Can Be the Light
The great need of our fellow Christians is not darkness, but light—light to cut through the gloom, light to brighten their eyes, light to illumine the way we all must go.

We must receive from God, before we can give to others, for we have nothing of our own with which to feed men’s hunger or quench their thirst. —J.R. Miller

Blessings to you on this fine day.

The Growth of Good Theology in Africa
This is an excellent article from TGC as they profile Ken Mbugua and tell about his work in Kenya.
Do you need to go to deliverance ministries?
And speaking of good theology in Africa (in general) and Kenya (in particular), here’s an article from Kuza about deliverance ministries.
Studying the Bible is not Code Breaking
“Some Christians act like the Bible is written in a mysterious language, accessible only to a select few. Bible study is left to the brilliant, the professionals who can teach the rest of us.” This is not right!
The Book That Packed A Punch
“Marking time is an odd aspect of human existence. Anniversaries divisible by five, ten, or twenty-five have more significance than those using lesser divisors. A centennial or bi-centennial raises the stakes even higher. The hundredth anniversary this year of Christianity and Liberalism, penned by the then Princeton Seminary professor J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937), has prompted some Protestants to take another look at the book that Yale historian, Sydney Ahlstrom, called the ‘chief theological ornament’ of Protestant fundamentalism.”
What’s the Difference between Venting and Lamenting?
“Christians today are increasingly aware of the importance of emotions. This growing emotional awareness is a positive development—especially when we learn how to process those emotions with God! At the same time, and perhaps even connected to this heightened emotional awareness, there is a growing recognition of the importance of lament. But as we think through processing our emotions and practicing lament, there is an important distinction to make. That distinction is the difference between venting and lamenting.”
A Plea for Fewer Metaphors in Children’s Talks
TGC Australia offers some pointers for those who teach children.
Flashback: The Parable of the Acorn
We find ourselves attuned more to our spiritual defeats than spiritual victories, more to the sin that remains than the holiness won. Though we may not be who and what we once were, we are still not nearly who and what we long to be.

So dear is sin to a man, that he will rather part with a child than a lust… —Thomas Watson

This sponsored post was provided by Burke Care which invites you to schedule care today with a certified biblical counselor.

Bonnie Tyler had a way with words,
“I need a hero
I’m holding out for a hero ’til the end of the night
He’s gotta be strong, and he’s gotta be fast
And he’s gotta be fresh from the fight”
What a song.  During danger, trials, and trauma the yearning for a hero emerges.  There’s a recognition that change can’t happen apart from a hero.  We’re lost without one.
I was listening to another woman this week.  Not a singer like Bonnie, but a woman also in crisis.  She said that she was angry, angry at God.  And she said that maybe she needs to be humble and patient.  While this does sound like the Sunday school answer everyone wants to hear, perhaps it is not the complete answer.  On one hand, she was angry at God, while on the other hand desiring qualities exclusive to God to transform her life.
When an awareness of need surfaces, the piercing question is not “where” do we go for change, but to “whom” do we go for change?
Many of us want to “be” something better… more patient or more humble.  Why is it so uncomfortable when situations transpire, and we realize we’re not these things?  It could be because, below the water line, there’s an iceberg called “inadequacy”.  Or another way to put it; a painful awareness that we’re not the hero!  We may not like what we see in ourselves, and we also cannot change ourselves, though we try with a desperate effort. An out-of-control powerlessness ensues.  It is maddening!  That awareness of need, though painful, is a conduit to what the Spirit desires for us – submission to Christ and conformity to His beautiful image.  The desire to be humble and patient apart from Jesus is a broken cistern.  A desire to be our own hero.  But our inadequacies are grace-filled reminders that not only do we have a Savior that desires to change us, but we have a Savior that desires to embrace us in all our ugliness.  The Gospel informs me to go to Jesus (John 1:1-14; 14:6).  That I go to the person who is perfect humility and patience (Heb. 4:15).  Since Jesus left us the Holy Spirit, I have the Holy Spirit in me to receive that same perfect humility and patience (John 14:15-31).  I do not manufacture humility and patience in my flesh.  That never works. I receive humility and patience from the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit, and over time… I realize that I am no longer as angry as I once was as I’ve walked a path enjoying my hero’s presence.
Perhaps Bonnie Tyler’s song is relevant for our lives.  We need a hero.  But do we want the hero’s transformation of our circumstances only, or we want Him to be the sole hero of our stories?  As we reflect on who the hero is of our stories, may our prayers sound less and less like, “Lord can you make me more patient?” and more and more like “Lord, all I need is you, and you alone”.
Reflection:

As you consider your story, who is the hero?
When you consider the Lord Jesus, do you see him more for refinement or rescue, a mechanism of development or a person of delight? Why?
What steps would you take to make Jesus the hero of your life instead of you?

For more info on Burke Care and how we can help you, please email us at [email protected]

I am taking a week’s vacation with my family, so you will find only A La Carte updates at the blog this week. Original content articles will resume again next week.

Westminster Books has deals on a good number of new and noteworthy books released this spring.
Today’s Kindle deals include a nice selection from Crossway.
(Yesterday on the blog: Deeper Than Our Deepest Need)
Admitting Your Views Have Changed Is Better Than Pretending Everyone Else Is Crazy
Yes, indeed! “Here’s something I see a lot of right now. A person with a history of certain public opinions will slowly begin voicing opinions that, while not explicitly contradicting their old views, are clearly in tension with them. These new opinions are evident to most observers, many of whom wonder when and where this person changed. But instead of offering insight into how their views have shifted, this person will insist that nearly everyone around them has changed in some way.”
The true significance of King Charles’ Coronation
Murray Campbell explains (some of) the true significance of King Charles’ coronation.
If God is Good, Why Do So Many Bad Things Happen?
Jim Elliff considers a question that is nearly as old as time itself.
Do You Hate Coldness?
“Sometimes someone says something to you at just the right moment, that serves as a crucial course correction in your life. I can remember one of those moments about seven years ago during a conversation with one of my pastors.”
How to Read Wisdom Literature
This article has several good pointers about properly reading the Bible’s wisdom literature.
The Fire Had No Power Over Their Bodies
Doug Eaton: “‘The fire had not any power over the bodies of those men’ (Daniel 3:27). These are the words spoken of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego while in the fiery furnace. It is a common truth; fire has power over bodies when the two come into contact, but not so in this case. The fire could not even singe their hair or burn their clothes. Unlike when you spend time near a campfire, they did not even have the smell of smoke on them. This event teaches us many things, but here are four encouragements to keep in mind.”
Flashback: One Woman in the Right Mightier than Four Hundred Men in the Wrong
There are many characters in the Bible who display extraordinary character in extraordinary circumstances. Among them is Abigail, whose story is told in 1 Samuel 25. I love this telling of the story from the mouth of the nineteenth century preacher De Witt Talmage.

As some of the best berries grow on the sharpest thorns, so some of the sweetest consolations of the Gospel grow on the most stinging affliction. —De Witt Talmage

We are so prone to make such a mess of our lives—so prone to be wasteful with the good gifts that God has given us. And then life in this world has its ways of grieving and harming us even apart from our own sin. George H. Morrison once reflected on all this as he considered the words of 1 Peter 5:10, which read as follows: “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle” (NKJV). He observed that the word that Peter uses for “make you perfect” is the same word that is used for mending nets. Thus, “It is as if Peter had said, ‘The God of grace, whatever else he may do, will mend your nets for you’.” And here is how he applied this.

Nets are often broken through encountering some jagged obstacle—caught by some obstruction in the deep and, clearing themselves free of it, are torn. It may be a piece of wreckage in the sea. It may be the sharp edge of some familiar reef that has been swept clear of its seaweed by the storm. But whatever it is, the net drags over it, is caught and torn, and, tearing itself free, it gapes disfigured like some wounded thing.
Are there no human lives like that? Maybe a hidden and surprising sin does it, maybe a sudden and overwhelming sorrow; it may be the ruin of a cherished friendship or the wreckage of a love that meant the world or some swift insight into another’s baseness where we dreamed there was sincerity. In such an hour as that the net is torn. There is a tearing of the very heartstrings. Faith is shattered, and God is but a name, and life seems the shallowest of delusions. For always, when we lose our faith in people, there falls a shadow on our faith in God, so that the very stars seem to have no master, and goodness seems only the mockery of a dream.
The torn net entails missing the riches that are at hand on every side. And that was the pity of the useless net—all that was precious was so near at hand and yet might have been a thousand miles away.
We have sinned, and we have sinned greatly. We have done our very best to spoil our lives. We have wasted time and squandered opportunity and been unloving and utterly unworthy. Thanks be to God, in spite of all that—and of things that may be darker than that—the broken net is going to be mended. He forgives us completely, he is pledged to save us completely. Deeper than our deepest need are the infinite depths of his compassion. It is in such a faith that we give him our lives, which are so torn and ragged, assured that his grace will be sufficient for us and his power made perfect in our weakness. God’s hands are powerful and can grasp tremendously when the wind is high and the waves are raging. But his hands, too, with a delicacy infinite and with tenderness, can mend the broken net on life’s shore.