Good morning, my friends. The Lord be with you and bless you today. 

Family Bonds
“My parents and my husband David’s parents met for the first time this August, 16 months after our Zoom wedding (thanks, pandemic). We were curious—and just a little nervous—about their first meeting: They have nothing in common!” Thus begins a hauntingly and tragically beautiful column from Sophia Lee.
“Just Say No”? 3 Practical Ways to Resist Temptation
“With all due respect to former First Lady Nancy Reagan, resisting temptation in the Christian life is much more nuanced and challenging than the popular advertising slogan of the 1980s, ‘Just Say No.’”
5 Productivity Lies Christians Must Avoid
There are some common but tempting lies listed here. “Who doesn’t want to be more productive with their time? But Christians must be careful that in pursuing efficiency we don’t fall for these five lies of productivity.”
Profanity and the Gospel
“Profanity is becoming more and more mainstream, but its constant use defiles us more than most people realize. Cursing only has one practical use. The act of being boorish has a way of waking people up when they have stopped paying attention.”
Don’t Sin To Fix Sin
This is an important principle. “You don’t want to multiply sin. It can never be good to sin in a bid to fix sin. Whatever problem we may be faced with, however messy and difficult to untangle, the solution to it is not further sin.”
Wanted: Spiritual Mothers
“The truth is, you’re never too old to no longer want your mom—the mom you may or may not have ever had. One who not only cares for you physically, but also speaks into your life with spiritual wisdom and comfort, who prays for you and builds you up with words of experience and knowledge, who reminds you of how much God loves you and desires a relationship with you.”
The Clear and Present Danger of Social Media Out of Control
Al Mohler is among many writers who are urging us to be increasingly cautious and increasingly aware when it comes to social media.
Flashback: The Cost of Surrounding Yourself with Negative People
To get ahead in life we need to get rid of anyone who holds us back. I am convinced this principle is abhorrent and will offer three reasons why.

Accomplishment heaven high is no apology for vice hell deep. —De Witt Talmage

Grace and peace to you this morning.

Westminster Books has a deal on some excellent little books meant to help Christians through hard times.
(Yesterday on the blog: Why Domestic Abuse Is So Very Evil)
Cultural Christianity Gave Us the Golden Age of CCM
This is an interesting one from Samuel James: “Cultural Christianity creates a tension. As an evangelical, I confess the need for conversion, regeneration, and a purified local church membership. But there are many things worth preserving in society that do not meet this criteria. Cultural Christianity is at its best when it creates and preserves imprints of the gospel in society, even if those imprints are themselves insufficient for total absorption by the church. CCM is an artifact of cultural Christianity.”
Are We The Baddies?
“France has been rocked by the news that over 300,000 children were abused by clergy and lay people in the Catholic Church over a 70 year period. While acknowledging the horror of this news, we might be tempted to comfort ourselves by saying that it doesn’t affect us because we are neither French nor Catholic. Sadly, however, that won’t wash.” Eddie Arthur explains why.
Lessons from Kabul
“Those images from Kabul will be seared into the American consciousness, much like the fall of Saigon over four decades earlier. And there are doubtless many political lessons to be learned. Nevertheless, today I want to ask the question, what missionary lessons might we learn from Kabul?”
Wisdom and Principles of Complementarianism
“What seems to be surprisingly absent in many recent discussions about complementarianism in the home is a treatment of what the roles between husbands and wives in the marital relationship should look like in a biblically principled fashion without personal applications of those principles.” This is important…
Three Things Bible School Didn’t Teach Me
My pal Chopo Mwanza lists three things Bible school didn’t teach him.
Bitter Roots
Sylvia Schroeder: “Each of our stories would be, could be, maybe even should be different had people or situations not altered our path. In society, in families, and as my husband’s father knew, even in ministry we might be richer, own more, have risen higher.  We can choose to replay wrong and rewind hurt. But when I read God’s Word, I come back time and time again to this.”
The “Bad Math” of Derailing Spiritually
“C.S. Lewis famously said that when we read history, we find that those who did the most for the present world are also the ones who thought the most of the next. In other words, the more heavenly minded we are—the more our heads and hearts are fixed on Jesus, his kingdom, and his purposes—the more earthly good we will be. And the more happy and healthy and whole we will be as well.”
Flashback: The Servers and the Servicers in Every Church
Servers are people who tend to feel closest to God when they are serving others; servicers are people who tend to feel closest to God when they are in the worship service.

It is much easier to get a text of Scripture fastened in our memory than to get the lesson of the text wrought into our life! —J.R. Miller

There are few churches that have no members who bear painful scars related to domestic abuse. There are few churches where pastors and members are not at times called upon to respond well and wisely to troubling allegations and sorrowful situations. In their book When Home Hurts, Jeremy Pierre and Greg Wilson provide guidance for such times and, as they do so, explain why domestic abuse is so very evil. I, for one, found it very helpful.

“Abuse occurs,” they say, “as a person in a position of greater influence uses his personal capacities to diminish the personal capacities of those under his influence in order to control them.” Physical and spiritual capacities meant to be used to love and build up are used instead to harm and tear down. Thus abuse is identified in two different directions: in the manipulative intent and behavioral forcefulness of the one in a position of influence, and in the diminishing effect on those under his influence. With that in mind, here are five ways in which abuse does particular damage and brings about grievous harm.
Abuse desecrates the personhood of the one being abused. God created each person in his image so we could represent him in the world he made. Every person is privileged by God to use his or her personal capacities to represent God by bringing order and goodness to the world. Where all sin is a failure to be like God in using these personal capacities, abuse goes a step further by diminishing the personal capacities of another person. “An abusive person uses his personal capacities to force other people to deliver on his personal desires. The force he exerts inflicts damage—that is, the effect of weakening someone to make them easier to control.” That damage is what we call trauma, and it has pernicious and long-lasting effects on those who have been victimized.
Abuse is a dangerous reversal of love. God gives us personal strength, but not so we can use it to control others. Rather, God designed us in his image with certain God-like faculties so we could commit them to the purpose of love. “Love is using one’s personal capacities to bring about good for others in the world—ordering it, caring for it, arranging it to bring about the greatest benefit not to oneself, but to other people.” But an abusive person dangerously reverses this design by using his God-like capacities to overpower those faculties in another person, so he can get what he wants. “Instead of using his powers to arrange the world to God’s glory, he uses his powers to arrange the world for his own.”
Abuse is a form of oppression. God hates oppression and expects that we will hate what he hates. So often in Scripture we see God responding to the cries of those who have been oppressed and in like manner we ought to respond to their cries. When God delivers us from the oppression of sin he calls us to oppose sin in our own lives, sin in the church, and sin in the world. In other words, “we begin to respond as God does when we see sin, including the sin of human oppression. God sees the oppressed, hears their cries, and acts with compassion, mercy, and justice. He tells us we should do the same.”
Abuse warps the purpose of marriage. The reversal of love that comes part and parcel with abuse is particularly dangerous in marriage because of marriage’s unique design. God calls a husband to use his unique and complementary strengths to build up his wife. “God intends a man to take the initiative in spending his efforts for the good of his wife. Her good is to be formed not into the image of her husband’s preferences, but rather into what God determines for her individual calling to look like Jesus Christ.” But abuse takes what can be used so powerfully for good and uses it for evil. “When a husband leads by using his capacities for the opposite purpose, for belittling his wife, he harms her in particularly destructive ways. And God holds him to stricter account. What makes domestic abuse a particularly cruel form of violence is that the home is supposed to be the place where personhood blossoms into its greatest potential. When home hurts, the world suffers.” (Of course there are occasions in which a wife is the perpetrator rather than victim of domestic abuse, but those are very rare compared to the opposite.)
Abuse corrupts the witness of church. In God’s design, families are not fully independent and self-contained units, but are accountable to a wider community—to the church. A family that hides and insulates itself from community influence puts its members at greater risk. And in situations of domestic abuse, the family often does that very thing—it insulates itself from the oversight and accountability of the local church. “God made the church to be the Spirit-indwelled people of the Word who are together learning to love what God loves and to hate what God hates. The beliefs and values conveyed in the pages of Scripture find their embodiment in living people. Jesus wanted the church to be the one type of community in all the world that demonstrates authority as self-emptying service for the good of those under it. In the church, greatness is demonstrated in servanthood.” But when abuse is present or, worse, tolerated, the church is denying God’s perspective and hindering victims of abuse from finding their bearings. To the contrary, When abuse is foreign and outrageous to God’s people, the church is reinforcing God’s perspective and assisting victims in gaining their bearings and healing their hearts.
You can learn more about domestic abuse, what it involves, and how you can help those suffering from it in When Home Hurts.

May the Lord bless and keep you today.

Carry a Candle
“Our very finite and fragile ability to love individuals around us is a gift. And it is also a candle. A profound flicker of light in this hard place. I understood that I needed to shelter it.” This writer reflects on her inability to bear all the sorrow of this world.
Love Like My Mom
This is such a sweet reflection on a brother’s grief and a mother’s love.
Censorship Isn’t Christians’ Biggest Social Media Problem
This article is really important. “A lot of Christians are concerned about social media censorship. Too few are concerned about social media discipleship. This isn’t surprising. We are more interested in the ways we can form the world than we are with the ways the world is forming us. This isn’t to say social media/internet censorship isn’t a problem. It certainly is. But I worry we as Christians are more interested in protecting our expression than we are our hearts.”
4 Reasons Pastors Should Consider Quitting Social Media
And in a somewhat similar vein: “Pastors should be especially aware of how the digital age is changing our parishioners and ourselves. There are benefits to having at our fingertips encyclopedic information, news updates, and virtual access to others. There are dangers, too. I believe the downsides of social media and overabundant digital information outweigh the benefits.”
Biology’s Divorce from Teleology
“The medical community has historically presupposed all human organs were designed to perform a function. The study of design is called teleology. The heart is designed to pump blood, the eye is made to see, and muscles are meant to move joints. Every part of the body is intended to do something in particular.” I, for one, am skeptical that biology can long survive the separation from teleology.
Ocean Depth Comparison (Video)
Videos like this help me better appreciate the wonders of God’s creation.
Handling Disagreement
I don’t know where this little series is going to go, but I expect it will be interesting. “What does a Dutch Prime Minister born nearly two centuries ago have to say about contemporary debates over the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines? As it turns out, quite a bit.”
Flashback: 6 Reasons For You To Consider Writing
You can use your words to influence others toward godliness, whether that is the people in your home, the people in your church, or people around the world.

When things are going well with us we may content ourselves with talking about the Lord; but when the sky darkens we hasten to deal with Him and talk to Him directly. —F.B. Meyer

Today’s Kindle deals include several titles that are worth a quick look to see if they’re worthy of your collection.

(Yesterday on the blog: How Can You Balance Life and Ministry and Your Passions and Hobbies?)
The Place of Godly Ambition
“Too often the word ambition conjures up negative images of Wall Street investment bankers rationalizing self-serving greed. Or, one might find the word plastered across a motivational poster with a climber clinging to the side of a mountain attempting an ascent. But which is it? Is ambition bad, or should we cultivate it in ourselves and in our children? Does the Bible promote ambition?”
What Is the Greatest of All Protestant “Heresies”?
You may be surprised to know what Roman Catholic theology considers the greatest of all Protestant heresies. Sinclair Ferguson explains.
Netflix to Develop Series and Films Based On C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles Of Narnia
This is exciting news. So now we’ve got Amazon working on a series set in Middle Earth and Netflix working on Narnia.
Should Pastors Talk about Brett Kavanaugh on Sunday?
I think this is wise counsel from Jonathan Leeman. “A number of pastors have asked us for counsel on how to address the Brett Kavanaugh nomination on Sunday. My basic counsel is, you don’t have to address it, but if you do, don’t pick a side. Instead, pray about it, showing a concern for God’s name, God’s justice, and the hurting.” (Also, Ben Sasse’s Senate speech from two days ago is well worth 18 minutes of your time.)
The Church at Election Time
There is also wise counsel to be had from Kevin DeYoung. “I believe pastors must be very careful how they lead their churches in our politically polarized culture. I know there are good brothers and sisters who may disagree with these principles and their practical implications. But at the very least, pastors must disciple their leaders and their congregations in thinking through these matters wisely and theologically.”
If God Is Sovereign, Why Pray? (Video)
Dr. Guy Richard, a professor at Reformed Theological Seminary, offers a good answer in this short video.
The Big Hack: How China Used a Tiny Chip to Infiltrate U.S. Companies
This is quite a story from Bloomberg. “During the ensuing top-secret probe, which remains open more than three years later, investigators determined that the chips allowed the attackers to create a stealth doorway into any network that included the altered machines. Multiple people familiar with the matter say investigators found that the chips had been inserted at factories run by manufacturing subcontractors in China.”
Flashback: Those Exquisite Forms of Love That Do Not Speak Your Language
When I demand that people speak my preferred love language, when it becomes the one way I receive love, I unnecessarily narrow my experience of love.

Follow Christ. It is costly. You will be an exile in this age. But you will be free. —John Piper

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

(Yesterday on the blog: My Own Little Paradise in an Ocean of Ugliness)
Men, Are You Submissive?
“Submission. Of all the words in the Bible, this may be one of the least popular. After all, our cultural moment is not one that values a posture of submission to authorities. On the contrary, our world insists we should challenge and critique those over us.”
How Personal Policies Can Help You Fight Decision Fatigue
Here’s an interesting little productivity tip. “The power of personal policies is that they relieve you of exerting excess energy in making small choices. Personal policies minimize decision fatigue.”
A Diligent Wife
Lauren Washer has begun a 31-day series that I expect many women will find helpful.
Going Home
“As surely as I know no earthly location is completely home, I also know God put in our hearts a desire for home. That yearning points to a place where we nestle in the heart of Jesus, and He inhabits ours. It promises a place of mansions prepared for us, streets of gold and eternity secured.”
Tell the Truth
Kristin tells another anecdote from her earlier days and shares a lesson through it.
The Measure of Reading Productively: Don’t Count the Numbers
Robert Zink: “The most frequent question I am asked is, ‘How do you read so much?’ which is often followed by, ‘How can I read more like you?’ Those questions, though, fail to capture the motivation, and as a result, do not allow us to measure productive reading.”
The Man of Lawlessness
“Perhaps you’ve heard of the Man of Lawlessness, otherwise known as the lawless one, who ‘opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God’ (2 Thess 2:4).” Peter Krol takes us to the context of the passage to better understand this Man of Lawlessness.
Flashback: Those Exquisite Forms of Love That Do Not Speak Your Language
When I demand that people speak my preferred love language, when it becomes the one way I receive love, I unnecessarily narrow my experience of love. I miss out on all of those “exquisite forms of love that do not ‘speak my language’.”

It is not a bad thing to live from hand to mouth when the mouth is the mouth of faith and the hand is the hand of our loving Father. —Theodore Cuyler

Preaching is a miracle. Faithful sermons are far more than explanations of a biblical text; they are celebrations of biblical realities. In ‘The Preaching Class,’ now available free online, John Piper distills lessons from more than three decades in the pulpit.

In this introduction, below, Pastor John invites preachers and listeners to join him in his series of short videos on preaching. Throughout the series, Pastor John distills lessons from his 33 years in the pulpit and 10 years in the classroom with aspiring pastors, all with the aim of welcoming listeners into the life of a preacher and the glorious task of preaching. Preaching is not the only means God uses to save and sanctify his people, but it is an essential one. We invite you to join us as Pastor John explains why.
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Watch all 30 workshops & lectures from ‘The Preaching Class.’

There are few things I love more than a good sunrise. There are few things I love more than waking up before dawn, driving to one of the parks or beaches along the shores of Lake Ontario, and watching the sun rise over the waters. Some of the richest and most beautiful displays of God’s artistry are painted across the sky in those few moments just before and just after the sun rises beyond the far horizon. It never fails to awe, never fails to delight, never fails to inspire.

One of my favorite spots is on the edge of a conservation area a few minutes from my home. After cutting through some dark forest and walking along several boardwalks, I arrive at a rocky beach. Following the shore for some time, I come to the mouth of a small creek that empties into Lake Ontario. The lake is before me, swampy marshland behind me, this little creek beside me. I have only ever had the place to myself and have only ever seen the sun rise beautifully from this spot. I set up my tripod and camera. I sit and wait to see what God will do.
I have enjoyed some beautiful moments here. I have watched the mist rise as swans paddle their way between myself and the sun, their form perfectly silhouetted against the bright yellows and oranges of the dawn. I have had herons land just feet away and stand stock-still before me, little otters skitter past, diving birds splash into the water all around.
This little conservation area is one of the few truly beautiful spots in an area of bland, boring suburbia. It is an oasis of beauty in the midst of the endless sprawl of the Greater Toronto Area. It is my own little paradise in an ocean of ugliness.
And it strikes me as being a little parable for myself and every other Christian. Each of us is deeply and terribly flawed, each of us entering our spiritual lives utterly given over to sin. Over the course of our lives the Lord does remarkable things within us. By his Spirit he enables us to put sin to death and come alive to righteousness, to strip off the garments of the old man and to begin to don the garments of the new one. By his Spirit he increasingly and wonderfully conforms us to the image of Jesus Christ.
But while God truly does substantial things within us, we remain as close to the image of Christ as this little conservation area is to paradise. We genuinely do make progress, yet always know that many decades of struggle in this life will be but baby steps compared to the mighty leap we will experience when we are finally perfected in the moment of death. The best of us take great strides in perhaps one or two areas—in humility or sympathy, in patience or gentleness. But the best of us still have such great flaws, such tragic imperfections, and will take them with us to the grave. The best of us are like these few acres of natural beauty in the midst of a city chock-full of suburban sprawl and industrial ugliness.
But there is one who perfectly mastered the art of living a true, beautiful, and perfect life. There is one who lived free from flaws and imperfections. There is one to whom we look as an example for living now and as a promise of how we shall live when we are finally called home, finally perfected, finally enabled to be all we can be in Him. There is one who shows us what it will be to live in the coming paradise.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I added a few Kindle deals on Sunday night and will look for more on Monday morning.
(Yesterday on the blog: When Blooming Youth Is Snatched Away)
Should I Look for a Better Job?
“How do you know when to take another job? I’ve been at my current workplace for two years. Everything is fine here, but I think I could push myself harder and learn more at another employer. Is it time to move on?” This is a solid answer to a common question.
Christian Practice In The Face Of Corrupt Police
“The police. They have often been ranked as the most corrupt sector of many African governments. These should-be law and justice enforcers are often seen acting as decided obstructionists. It’s hard to argue that police corruption in the form of bribery and extortion is not endemic in our continent. This is especially true in Sub-Saharan Africa.” I appreciated Daniel Gachuki’s take on police corruption.
We Believe: Confessions
There is a new issue of Credo Magazine to read. It’s available for free!
Biblical Justice vs. Mob Justice
Denny Burk looks at some differences between biblical justice and mob justice. “A large part of the drama of A Tale of Two Cities is the depiction of mob justice. What happens when the social order disintegrates, and due process and the rule of law are lost? What happens is that the rights of the accused get trampled under foot.”
The Church as a Radical Welcoming Community
“If all of the people we talk to and share meals with at church are like us, we are not being the community we should be. The church should be a place where everyone is welcome and feels welcome. At church gatherings, we should see older people speaking to teenagers, men speaking to women, singles speaking to marrieds, and those with children speaking to those who do not.”
An Earnest Love
Blake Long: “We are always bickering over something. Maybe it’s high time to express earnest love for those of whom we disagree? Perhaps it’s time to lay down our preferences, lay down our desires, lay down our egos and love each other—even in our disagreements. There has been far too much earnest condescension and not enough earnest love.”
The Gentleness of God
This is a sweet look at our gentle God. “He is indeed great and terrible, to be feared above all other gods; but this only serves to accentuate the wonder of his gentleness and deepen our loving reverence for him. More than this, it provides a vital perspective on his dealings with us – especially when we find ourselves in the midst of seemingly harsh providences.”
Flashback: Hand in Hand, Heart Linked to Heart
My sister shared these words with me–words written by Susannah Spurgeon after the death of her husband Charles. She reflects on life together and the Lord who gives and takes away. They are sweet and precious words.

Most frequently we fail in not continuing in prayer until the blessing is obtained, and in not expecting the blessing. —George Müller