It is inevitable that we face times of difficulty and impossible that we escape them altogether. To be born is to suffer and to live is to endure all manner of trouble and trial. Just as none of us escapes death, none of us escapes all hardships.
And when we face such hardships, we invariably long to overcome them. We want to get past them, through them, over them, around them—whatever it takes for them to come to as quick an end as possible. Yet it does not take us long in the Christian life to learn that God means for us to get something from our hardships—he wants us to gain something precious and obtain something valuable. And sometimes this means the hardships will persist for a long time or even for the rest of our days on earth.
One of the pearls of wisdom that has served me well in life and that has been both challenging and comforting is this: Suffering always comes bearing a gift. It comes bearing a gift of God’s blessing if only we will seek for it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure.
We can believe suffering comes bearing a gift because it does not come apart from God’s will, and his will for us is always good. There is nothing in the will of God that is ultimately to the detriment of his children and so there is nothing in the providence of God that is ultimately to our harm. To the contrary, he has promised that all things—even very difficult things—are in some way working for our good (Romans 8:28).
This being the case, we can receive our suffering with a sense of reverence and expectation. We can receive it even with a heart of welcome and begin to look for the blessing it will bring to us. This is not to say we revel in our hurts or celebrate our trials, but it is to say that we can “rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (Romans 5:3–4). Suffering is fertile soil in which character grows and trials are dark skies and heavy rains that cause the Spirit’s fruit to burst into life. In so many ways we become who and what we long to be not apart from suffering but through it.
God has placed his richest blessings within our deepest wounds.Share
The reason many Christians find so little comfort in their trials is that they do not accept them as coming from God and therefore do not expect to receive any blessing from them. They wish only to be released from their sorrows and healed from their wounds as soon as possible. But those who receive them with a heart of welcome—even a heart-broken heart of welcome—and those who search diligently for God’s gift in them—even through eyes glazed with tears—will find that God has placed his richest blessings within our deepest wounds. As we entrust our sorrows to him, we find that he has first entrusted them to us. He has assigned to us these sorrows so we can in turn consecrate them to him. He means for us to faithfully steward them, confident that they will guide us into deeper submission to his purposes and deeper conformity to his Son.
Inspired in part by the writings of J.R. Miller

Good morning. Grace and peace to you.
There are so many good Kindle deals to consider today and they cover a variety of topics. Empowered and Equipped is for women who teach the Bible; Preaching Christ in All of Scripture is for preachers; What’s Best Next is for those with an interest in productivity; and so on.

This is a very interesting one from Brad Littlejohn. “The onward march of progressive social norms is not a historical inevitability, nor the result of superior ideas. It is at least in part the result of changes in our technological environment. Of course, there is no closing Pandora’s Box. Digital technology is here to stay. But thankfully we don’t need to abandon it; we just need to start subjecting it to the kinds of norms and laws we take for granted in other domains.”

Ryan Denton has written another entry in his consideration of whether some forms of cessationism have actually become something like hyper-cessationism.

Conrad Mbewe: “You only have to be a Christian for a short time before you realize that churches suffer from disunity and splits after seasons of peace as surely as valleys follow rolling hills. Often, you can see the downward spiral coming from a distance. In this article, I point out ten ways in which you can fracture the church to which you belong. Most of these ways can be caused by anyone.”

“Someone told me recently that living within our God-given limits is good. A lot of someones have told me similar things, almost like I’m bad with limits… Ahem. God has been reinforcing the message, putting limits in place that I simply can’t control or push out of the way. I’m having to rethink some commitments, change my pace, and accept some ambiguity I’d usually push past.”

Jon Bloom reflects on growing a bit older and the importance of numbering his days.

I very much agree with the big point of Michael Kruger’s article—”Parents and churches need to consider ways to introduce their children, at age-appropriate levels, to non-Christian philosophies, arguments, and criticisms, along with a proper Christian response.”

I believe there are often better ways of framing a sermon than falling back on “point one,” “point two,” and “point three.”

Reputation is what a man’s neighbors and friends think of him; character is what the man is.
—J.R. Miller

God calls us to live lives marked by holiness. God could have arranged the world in such a way that when we put our faith in Christ, he immediately “zaps” us with the full measure of holy character. He could have arranged it this way, but in his wisdom he didn’t.
Instead, God has called us to a lifetime of laboring toward holiness. He has called us to diligently put off every sinful thought, desire, and behavior and to deliberately put on the full measure of righteousness. He calls us to “strive…for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). To strive is to make a great effort toward a goal or achievement. It is to labor, to strain, to toil, to work incessantly to attain victory.
Jen Wilkin says “We will not wake up ten years from now and find we have passively taken on the character of God.” That is impossible and unrealistic. It is sinful and lazy. If we wish to have the character of God, we must apply ourselves to the Word of God and allow it to shape and mold us until we are conformed to his image. What a wonderful and noble goal! And what a fitting reward for our labor.

My gratitude goes to The Good Book Company for sponsoring the blog this week. They want to ensure you know about the new book The Soul-Winning Church by J.A. Medders and Doug Logan Jr.
Today’s Kindle deals include a collection of interesting titles.
Westminster Books is offering a discount on a book of prayers you may find helpful (and an additional discount if you buy the other two volumes in the set).
(Yesterday on the blog: The Thing That Would Make Everything Okay Forever)

“Seasons of routine, monotony, and uncertainty can cause us to question. Is this what I’m called to? Should I be doing something else or continuing down this familiar path? Sometimes, God uses our restlessness to awaken us. We should be doing something different. God is moving us on and using this uncertainty to get us to where we need to be. But in other cases, wisdom dictates that we stay and plod away. Yet we might still wonder, Is God working?“

The authors of the recent study on dechurching offer three questions churches should be asking today.

There is a sense in which this is obvious but it is still worth thinking about: whether we are pastors or not, we need to learn how to understand different people.

Andy Stearns: “I’ve often thought about running the race in the context of resisting temptation to sin. Or facing persecution and remaining faithful to the end. But now I see another way we must all run the race. Sorrow is yet one more path that Christians must trod as they follow their savior.”

Peter Mead reflects on the well-known story of Mary and Martha and says we need an army of both types.

If you are finding the Bible boring, it says more about you than it does about the Bible. Mitch Chase offers four reasons you may find it boring (and tells what to do about it).

The highest purpose of marriage is to display to the world the sacrificial love of Christ for his bride, the church.

If you carefully watch yourselves, you will find that failure in temptation is always preceded by some permitted evil, which took place perhaps days before.
—F.B. Meyer

This week the blog has been sponsored by the Ministry Network by Westminister. And today they are giving away a great book bundle! Church life is filled with joys and trials, tragedies, and triumphs. Along this journey, Ministry Network offers encouragement and support. On our podcast, you can learn from the experience and advice of…

This week the blog has been sponsored by the Ministry Network by Westminister. And today they are giving away a great book bundle! Church life is filled with joys and trials, tragedies, and triumphs. Along this journey, Ministry Network offers encouragement and support. On our podcast, you can learn from the experience and advice of…

It does me good to pause from time to time to read an account of a person coming to faith. It never ceases to fascinate me how many different paths we take to that one door and it never ceases to encourage me to read about another person’s experience of coming to the end of themselves before finally entrusting themselves to the Lord. God is endlessly creative in the ways in which he draws his people to himself.

The Thing That Would Make Everything Okay Forever

Ashley Lande spent much of her life looking for The Thing That Would Make Everything Okay Forever. That search led her down many different paths, but the one that most compelled and attracted her was psychedelics. She revered them and related to them almost as if they were a god, the means through which she would come to complete self-understanding, complete wholeness—the means through which she would achieve transcendence.
From the first time Lande tasted a psilocybin mushroom she was hooked and eventually graduated to LSD and other psychedelic substances. She was never a junkie as she might have been had she pursued hard drugs, but she was addicted nonetheless—addicted to the experience, to the effects, and perhaps most of all, to the conviction that these drugs would eventually bring her a kind of salvation.
There was no single thunderclap moment that broke her commitment to drugs and made her loyal to Jesus. Rather, it was a succession of small moments—faithful Christians living godly lives, faithful churches speaking gentle truths, and a faithful husband who was on a similar journey but a few steps ahead. In the end, she began to understand that she had made herself her own god and realized this was an utterly futile pursuit. “Suddenly my grande pursuit of enlightenment through psychedelics seemed to position me no better than a junkie. I wasn’t a seeker, or a sojourner, or a pilgrim courageously plunging into unmapped worlds. I liked getting high. I loved drugs.” As soon as she was willing to admit the futility of her own attempts to be enlightened and instead trust in Jesus, she was saved—wonderfully, miraculously, and radically saved.
Though I have read many conversion memoirs over the years, I had never read one quite like Lande’s. The writing is top-tier and so is her self-understanding. She probes deep into her actions and gazes deep into her soul to explain what drew her to psychedelics, what she thought they would do for her, and why they eventually and inevitably let her down. She offers insights into the intersection between the New Age movement and the use of drugs. And she explains why the Christian faith offers hope and assurance that are reliable and compelling.
The Thing That Would Make Everything Okay Forever is a thoroughly enjoyable read and, like any great memoir, turns the reader’s attention far beyond its author and to the One who is ultimately the Author of her story and all of ours as well.

The God of peace be with you on this fine day.
Today’s Kindle deals include Michael Wittmer’s excellent 40 Urban Legends of Theology along with a helpful resource on 1 John. Plus anything else I manage to track down in the morning.
Meanwhile, Westminster Books has a deal on Little Christmas Carol, a new book by the writers of Little Pilgrim’s Progress.

This is an encouraging read. “When we think of God’s providential provision for his children, we often think in immediate terms—the unexpected financial gift that comes on the day the bill is due, the odds-defying recovery, or the new job starting right when the severance pay ended. These kinds of immediate interventions are marvellous. They should lead us to praise and give thanks to the God who gives them. But we should also be ready to see that many of God’s provisions are prepared for us long before our needs arise.”

If the previous article is encouraging, this one is challenging (and maybe convicting). “The path of wisdom has footprints of restraint. It’s the idea of holding back or keeping back. There’s an intentional restriction of what is said. This is the self-control that knows that sometimes it’s better to be slow to speak or even not to speak (or text, or email, or post).”

Learn six principles from J.A. Medders and Doug Logan in their new book, The Soul-Winning Church, to excite your church members about evangelism. Get 25% off with code SOULWIN. (Sponsored)

Dave Harvey: “Okay, I’m going to say something that may sound unsettling, but I want you to think about it. Are you ready? The whole idea of family, in the way we experience it on earth, is only temporary. There is a day coming when the concept of family will be swept up into a more glorious and satisfying arrangement. Don’t let that make you nervous. What awaits us is far more magnificent.”

Andrew and Christian Walker offer some help to parents. “What in America’s cultural landscape has changed that requires more intentionality on the part of Christian parents? Many topics could be discussed related to this issue, but here are four unique pressure points that have changed the landscape for Christian parenting in this generation, requiring us to have a strategy for how to remain faithful.”

Mary Nolte tells how important it is to worship even in times of great difficulty.

I agree with Carl Trueman on this. “In the space of a few decades, the moral intuitions of society have not simply parted company with those of Christianity—they have come to stand in direct opposition to many of them. That changes the pedagogical dynamics of church life. The churches now need to teach Christian ethics more explicitly and more thoroughly, because that is where the wider culture will challenge Christian discipleship most powerfully. Indeed, it is already doing so, and orthodox Protestantism seems ill-equipped to address this.”

With September here and fall and winter laid out before us, perhaps this is the time to spark that lukewarm devotional life. Here are a few suggestions.

The God who was disgraced and shamed has eyes for those who have been disgraced and shamed.
—Ed Welch

Good morning from Padua, Italy. I am here to speak at a conference and to preach at a church and am very much looking forward to it.
Today’s Kindle deals include a whole big selection of good books. There is a timely one for students, one for married couples, and a couple to help you study the Bible.
I know many women have benefited from Keri Folmar’s “Delighting in the Word Bible” studies. I thought you’d like to know there is a new one (in a great new look and format) on the book of Romans.
(Yesterday on the blog: The Dutiful Introvert)

This is an interesting one from the Wall Street Journal. I think you should be able to read it for free. “In a rock quarry south of Athens, more than 100 actors dressed as soldiers in an ancient army are waiting for the order to charge. Blowing dust mixes with white plumes from artificial smoke machines. Thirty horses shift under their riders armed with prop swords and shields. Facing them is another small army: the production crew transforming one of the most famous tales in human history—David versus Goliath—into a television spectacle.”

Robby wonders why God didn’t clearly explain every theological issue and suggests one reason God may have chosen to do things this way.

“The problem is that TikTok’s algorithm (or any other platform’s algorithm) doesn’t know or care what the difference between #progressivechristianity and #biblicalchristianity is. So, interest in one might as well be interest in the other as far as the robots are concerned. Someone who is genuinely interested in fairly normal, if not milquetoast, Christian content on social media can easily have a rabbit hole open up under their feet as the algorithm begins to mingle in people who sow seeds of doubt about the reliability of scripture.”

Caleb Davis: “Many times, I’ve asked God to change my suffering. I’ve had sleepless nights and stomachaches. I’ve studied, sought coaching, made plans, and pursued best practices. I’ve poured out prayer after prayer, asking God to take my pain away. I’ve wanted it to end. I find it easy to see all that suffering takes, all I miss out on. I see what I’ve lost. But it’s easy to miss what God gives me in trials.”

Writing for Ligonier, Robert Carver has counsel for children, parents, and grandparents.

This article strikes some of the same notes. “I have some dear friends, whom I love very much even though they run. I mean really run. On purpose. Because they like it. They have a few years up on me, yet they are forever completing some big mileage run. They do this with smiles on their faces. And they look good. And they have at least one million grandkids for whom they pray and spend time with while remembering all their names.”

The Bible’s warnings about laziness and idleness are many and stern. So when God puts you into a vocation that is legal and moral, he has done you a great benefit. 

One of the great mistakes made, generation after generation, through Church history, is to slather rules onto our behavior and think that external behavior is what fosters, or even accurately reflects, vital spiritual growth.
—Dane Ortlund

I am aware that the categories of introvert and extrovert are not described or even hinted at within the pages of the Bible. My understanding is that the terms arose from the mind of Carl Jung and were popularized through his teachings—teachings that oppose Scripture in a host of ways.
Yet there is still something to the idea of introversion and extroversion—that some people are more naturally outgoing and talkative while others are more naturally inward and reserved. This simply describes what we have all observed, that some are more affable than others and that while some are refreshed and energized by being with people, others are refreshed and energized by being apart from people. Through some combination of nature and nurture, that’s just how we are.
Personally, I fall well within the ranks of the introverts. I genuinely love people and enjoy being around them. However, being surrounded by others and immersed in conversation eventually begins to drain me and I find refreshment in solitude. That may be as simple as ducking out of an activity for five minutes to do a bit of an internal reset or it may be as complicated as taking week-long vacations with no one but my family. While some people are drained by solitude and invigorated by company, I tend to be invigorated by solitude and drained by company.
There was a time in my life when I allowed introversion to provide a ready excuse when I did not want to do something—when I did not want to accept an invitation, attend a gathering, or meet a new person. After all, why would I do something that clashes with my personality, that drains me, and that I can find exceedingly difficult?
However, I encountered a challenge when I began to consider church leadership and the character of a man who aspires to be an elder—character that is meant to exemplify what God expects of all Christians. As I studied those qualifications and passed through the early stages of examination, it became clear that I was failing to fulfill some of them. If I was going to be hospitable, if I was going to faithfully instruct others in the Word, and if I was going to know and be known by the people I would lead and love, I would need to address some of my natural tendencies. While being a leader in a church would not require a personality transplant, it would require a willingness to deny some of my own comfort.
I decided at that time to commit to being a dutiful introvert. A dutiful introvert is one who acknowledges and accepts what is true about himself but also determines he will never let it interfere with his duty before the Lord. He will not pretend he is an extrovert or stop valuing times of solitude, but he will also not allow his personality to excuse any failure to fulfill the opportunities God presents to him.
I have a duty of love to greet visitors at my church and have no right to allow my introversion to keep me from making another person feel seen, acknowledged, and welcomed. So I will greet others.
I have a duty of hospitality to those who would benefit from it and have no right to allow my introversion to keep me from opening my life and opening my home. So I will invite others in.
I have a duty of care to shepherd the people of my church and have no right to allow my introversion to keep me from getting to know them so I can tend to their spiritual needs. So I will create and accept opportunities to begin new relationships and foster existing ones.
Introversion can never be allowed to negate duty or justify a failure to love.Share
In short, introversion can never be allowed to negate duty or justify a failure to love. This is the commitment of a dutiful introvert.
It has not always been easy and I haven’t always been successful, but I have observed something interesting along the way: The more I have forced myself to be dutiful, the easier duty has become. The more I have pushed to deny myself, the more joy I’ve found in self-denial. I have not become an extrovert—not nearly!—but neither is that my desire or goal. I have remained who I am, but with duty added to it—duty and the delight that flows from it.