May the Lord be with you and bless you today.

I mentioned earlier in the week that Westminster Books has some excellent biographies for young readers on sale. Today they’ve added a good book on reading the Bible well.
To Stay and Serve: Why We Didn’t Flee Ukraine
Here’s a dispatch from within Ukraine: “In recent weeks, nearly all the missionaries have been told to leave Ukraine. Western nations evacuated their embassies and citizens. Traffic in the capital of Kyiv is disappearing. Where did the people go? Oligarchs, businessmen, and those who can afford it are leaving, saving their families from potential war. Should we do the same?”
Bursting Christian bubbles
“We need to regularly ask God to burst our Christian bubbles.” This article explains how and why.
Did Justin Martyr Know the Gospel of John?
“There has been a long-standing scholarly discussion about how far back we can trace the roots of the fourfold gospel. ” Michael Kruger asks whether we can trace them all the way back to Justin Martyr.
Why be a small group member?
Tony Payne considers why we should consider being part of a small group (assuming that is something our churches offer).
The Trinity and Blaspheming the Holy Spirit
“God does not demand worship because he is insecure and needs affirmation, but simply because it is true. This truth means that any time someone misuses or defames the name of the Lord, blasphemy is the charge. One person could sin against another, and it would not be blasphemy; but to dishonor the Lord is to commit a different kind of sin.”
Closeness Comes Through Fire
Ed Welch considers the connection between suffering and sanctification.
Flashback: When Grumbling Meets Gossip
As Christians, we are responsible to maintain the unity of our local churches, and to do that, we need to protect our relationships with our brothers and sisters.

If you cannot fly towards heaven with the wings of assurance, walk there on the legs of faith. —Andrew Gray

Grace and peace to you today.

Today’s Kindle deals include a couple of good books.
(Yesterday on the blog: When We Go Unnourished)
What I Learned About Love When I Met My Son
This is a sweet reflection on the love of a father for a son. “When I met my son that day, I suddenly realised why the father of the prodigal in Jesus’ parable ran so hard to welcome the return of his son who had rejected him. Of course he did. It was his son. It was his own heart. But the thing that amazes me the most…”
My Love for Canada Is Overwhelmed with Lament
Michael Krahn: “‏We live in a dark period of Canadian history. These last few days have broken my heart as I’ve watched the many on-the-ground live streams and news reports about what was happening in Ottawa. ‏I have experienced a mixture of anger and lament that has overflowed into tears more than once.”
A Word to My Fellow Cynics
Cindy has one for the cynics. “Cynicism has become the default setting of our society. From our comedy to our politicians, podcasts, and pulpits, being cynical is cool. However, while sardonically assuming the worst about a given situation or person may be socially acceptable, it diametrically opposes the character of Christ.”
Burnout Warning
“I was asked by a friend why so many people are burning out these days. Whether it is a moral fall, a mental breakdown, or a ministry burnout, the frequency seems to be increasing. Why?” Peter Mead answers.
Hidden Temper, Undeserved Grace
“When the weight of my sin crushes me, trust in Jesus’ finished work raises me. Faith and repentance grow at the juncture of Jesus’ mercy and grace. Sin’s humiliation is cancelled at the foot of the cross. It never is nor was cheap grace, but rather Jesus’ costly redemption which brings freedom from my chains of sin. And this knowledge, this realization of how much He paid and how deep is my need brings me to my knees.”
Baptists, Creeds and Confessions
“It’s time to set the record straight. Baptists are not anti-creedal. Or at least, they shouldn’t be. ”
Flashback: Little Seeds that Split Great Rocks
…each Christian must be on constant watch against little seeds of dispute that fall into little fissures of disunity. For little disputes have their ways of growing into big disputes, their ways of becoming far greater than we would ever have thought, would ever have imagined.

Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the book widens and deepens with our years. —Charles Spurgeon

My dad sometimes got exasperated with me. He sometimes got exasperated with me and, looking back, I can’t say I blame him. After all, while his passion was to nurture life within his precious gardens, mine was to kick back with a good book. While his burden was to do things well, mine was to do them with the least effort possible. I’m sure I didn’t make much of an employee on those days I accompanied him to job sites.

For a number of years much of dad’s work was done on a rich man’s estate not far from here. I remember a day when he brought me along to help him plant some flowerbeds. He dug the holes and I dropped a flower into each one, then pressed the soil back around the roots. When all had been planted, he left me to water while he turned his attention to other matters.
I took the hose in hand, gave everything a quick spray, then got my book from the truck and settled against a tree to catch up on some comics. Sure enough, he soon hauled me back to the flowerbed to water it all again. “I told you to water everything well and I expect you to do it. Do it again, and this time do it right!”
I guess I learned a lesson that day, though in retrospect it was rather an obvious one. I learned that you can’t just give freshly-planted flowers a quick spray in the heat of a Canadian summer and expect them to take root. Rather, you need to give the soil a deep soak. If you don’t, the sun will quickly dry the ground, the roots will be scorched, and the flowers will die.
The Bible often draws spiritual lessons from the natural world and there is one for us to gain here. Had dad failed to correct my negligence, it would have been no surprise when we returned the next week to find that those flowers had withered and perished. And there would have been no need to speculate on the cause of death. We would have known that because we failed to water the flowers, we failed to nourish them and give them any chance to grow.
And in much the same way, there are many Christians who do not grow spiritually precisely because they go unnourished. They may hope for life and health, they may hope to thrive and to bloom beautifully, but they cannot because they will not avail themselves of the means God provides. They do not pour over the words of sacred Scripture, they do not labor in prayer, they do not exert effort in being faithful to worship and serve in the local church. They may dabble in these things—their eyes may flit over the Bible, their mouths may recite a few memorized prayers, their feet may occasionally lead them to church—but they do not commit to them, they do not give themselves to them, they do not take full advantage of God’s provision.
Had I failed to water the garden, I would have had no cause to be surprised when I returned to find the ground dry, the roots parched, the flowers withered and faded. And if you, my friend, fail to nourish your soul, you have no cause to be surprised when your soul feels dry, when your faith feels parched, when you seem only to whither and fade. For the God who is so eager to give you his sanctifying grace, tells you how you can expect to receive it, the means through which he pours it out upon you. It is for you to receive, to drink deeply, and to thrive.

(To that end, you may enjoy my book Knowing and Enjoying God which shares quotes from a host of Christians on how to grow in your faith and develop a rich relationship with God)

The Lord bless you and keep you today.

On sale this week at Westminster Books is an excellent series of Christian biographies for children.
Seven Common Misconceptions about the King James Bible
“When a book blossoms into such a literary lotus, myths also begin to sprout. Grains of truth rendering them plausible grow into weeds of fiction. Blocking the light of contrary facts and pilfering life-giving nuance, truth eventually withers. The following are seven myths about the KJB that now need pruning.”
I Frequently Feel Like a Father Failure
Most fathers feel like failures much of the time…
Deeply Loved, Dearly Missed
I was blessed to read Donna Evans’ eulogy of her dear son, James Bruce. She says that “the world could not possibly understand how one individual, so limited in natural ability, could possibly impact the lives of so many. But that’s exactly what James Bruce did.”
The Seven Works of the Holy Spirit
David Paul reminds us of how much the Holy Spirit does in us and for us.
The Ten Commandments are a Mentor Leading Us to Faith in Christ
Colin Smith: “The Ten Commandments are a mentor to lead you to faith in Christ. A mentor is someone who can show you where you need to go and walk with you till you get there. Properly understood, that’s what the commandments will do.”
The Information Superhighway Is a Dead End
This is worth pondering as we use search engines and social media. “The architectures of the busiest hubs of online life are designed to make us reliant on them, not free us from them, and exposure to wisdom (opposed to knowledge) would expose this reality. It is Plato’s Allegory of the Cave on a global scale.”
Flashback: A Plea for Innocence
It is well and good, I think, to have some familiarity with some of the most common false teachings and false teachers…But it can be dangerous to immerse ourselves in false teachings and false teachers. It can be dangerous to assume that we need to have a deep understanding of error in order to hold fast to what is true.

There is no halfway or lackadaisical way to fight lust. If you’re not fighting your sin, you’re befriending your sin. —Tripp Lee

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

(Yesterday on the blog: None of Us Will Ever Forget What You Did)
Important Contexts for Understanding Reformed Theology
Keith Mathison reminds us that context matters in history and theology as much as in Bible study. “Reformed theology was a fruit of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation, and that Reformation took place in a particular historical and cultural context. The authors writing at the time wrote within a particular philosophical and theological context. Having a grasp of these various contexts is important for understanding Reformed theology. I want to briefly mention three such contexts: the historical, philosophical, and theological contexts.”
Sometimes Leaders Need to be Carried
Jared Wilson: “Leadership of all kinds is lonely and costly. It is tiring. For every person with a problem, he or she is essentially all that exists. Affliction has its way of self-centering. But all the problems that exist are the leader’s.”
Another Year Under the Sun
“People who ought to know keep saying that this year we will finally put the pandemic behind us. I’ve given up predicting myself, but I hope they’re right. If they are, I wonder how we’ll remember these last couple years.” Matt McCullough shows how Ecclesiastes may be particularly important at this time.
Should You Leave Your Church? (Video)
Todd Friel considers whether or not you should leave your church.
We Are Both Job and Job’s Friends
This is a helpful little reflection on the fact that we are sometimes Job and sometimes Job’s friends.
Carrying Each Others’ Burdens and Why It Can Be Hard
Carrying each other’s burdens can be hard, and this article tells why.
Flashback: I Feel I Think I Believe
…we as Christians must know what we believe and we must believe these things with strength and confidence. It is not wrong to feel, but it is not enough. Feelings will not sustain us when the world turns against us.

We are settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves. —David Platt

Today’s post is written by Sean McGever and is sponsored by Zondervan. Sean is the author of The Good News of Our Limits.

You may believe in a false gospel and not even know it. Worse yet, this message may have come from your favorite Christian books, sermons, and Bible studies. False gospels are nothing new; they are as old as the good news itself.
I wonder, have you believed in the false gospel of omni-productivity? Purveyors of this news sell it to us as an elixir for our desire to do more and be more. I have a response to this message. In The Good News of Our Limits, I show readers how to spot these lies and provide practical ways to embrace our God-given limited design.
The temptation of omni-productivity is nothing new. Our God-given inability is an obvious target for Satan’s schemes. The serpent successfully lured the woman by claiming, “you will be like God” (Gen. 3:5). Woven into the serpent’s temptation is an echo in many of our hearts today. Like the proverbial carrot on a stick in front of a horse, I hear repeatedly, “what if I just could do a little bit more,” or worse, “what if I just could be a little bit more?” Be more? Impossible. Yet, so tempting.
Our depraved nature seeks capacities that belong to God alone. On the first page of Calvin’s Institutes, he writes, “the infinitude of good which resides in God becomes more apparent from our poverty. In particular, the miserable ruin into which the revolt of the first man has plunged us compels us to turn our eyes upwards.” Calvin explains that our failings and shortcomings should alert us to our desperate need for God. Our shortcomings are designed to show us our need to turn heavenward. Yet, countless voices tell us to look inward rather than upward.
We search for solutions using optimization techniques, attempting to fit more and more into our already full days. We try to craft efficiently maximized lives, but these methods always fail, not because they are ill-intentioned, but because they do not go far enough. The Good News of Our Limits provides practical steps for biblical productivity rooted in a theological understanding of our humanity.
The true gospel resides in the earliest confession of the church: Jesus is Lord. Our culture, including our church cultures, surround us with messages to do and be more. This is a false gospel. We cannot be more. All humans are limited in what we can do. Jesus is Lord; I am not. We find greater peace, joy, and effectiveness when we embrace our own inadequacies and delight in the adequacy of our Lord.
Go here to order The Good News of Our Limits or find out more info.

Sean McGever (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is area director for Paradise Valley Arizona Young Life and an adjunct faculty at Grand Canyon University. He speaks, teaches, and ministers across the United States, Canada, and the UK.
What people are saying about The Good News of Our Limits:
“God is God. We are not. He is limitless. We are limited. On the surface, this sounds depressing. But as this book makes clear, this truth is wonderfully freeing as it eradicates the life-sucking pressure to be everything to everyone, everywhere. I’m so glad Sean wrote this book!”
—JORDAN RAYNOR, national bestselling author of Redeeming Your Time, Master of One, and Called to Create
“Sean McGever has been a lifelong bearer of good news. Here, he has done it again, this time proclaiming a refreshing declaration of freedom: ‘It’s okay to be a human being!’ Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminded us that we humans will always be limited in our understanding because we are creations. McGever has developed this idea and expanded it by encouraging us that part of being ‘beautifully and wonderfully made’ (Ps. 139) by the Creator includes our limits. They are a part of the design, not a flaw. ‘It is for freedom that Christ has set us free’ (Gal. 5:1).”
—SCOTT LISEA, campus pastor at Westmont College
“McGever digs into the ‘hustle-pause spectrum’ of our lives, emphasizing the reality of human limitation. According to McGever, our limitations do not pose a threat to kingdom work but are rather a reminder that God is King and we are his image bearers. I found much needed purpose and relief in reading this book.”
—RACHEL JOY WELCHER, editor at Fathom magazine and author of Talking Back to Purity Culture
“The Good News of Our Limits is a refreshing encouragement to embrace how God intentionally designed us as finite human beings. Through relatable stories and illustrations, McGever helps us all discover joy in our inadequacy.”
—DREW HILL, pastor and award-winning author of Alongside: Loving Teenagers with the Gospel

Go here to order The Good News of Our Limits or find out more info.

The young man had forsaken his father, claimed an early inheritance, and blown it all in reckless living. Having fallen from riches to poverty, this prodigal son was now in the most desperate of straights—working hard, eating little, spiraling ever downward.

But on one brutal day, when he was as low as low could be, a thought suddenly flashed into his mind: “At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and I’m here dying of hunger!” The thought birthed an idea: “I will go home to my father and say, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.’” He understood that though he was no longer worthy to be considered his father’s son, he would gladly take a place as his father’s slave.
So he set out to return home and at last arrived at the outskirts of his father’s holdings. As his foot hovered beside the boundary marker, he paused for just a moment to run over his plan and rehearse his words. “I have sinned. I am not worthy. Make me your servant. I have sinned. I am not worthy. Make me your servant.” With a whispered prayer, he steeled his gaze and began to shuffle forward.
He had taken only a few steps when suddenly, in the distance ahead, he saw someone approaching, running, almost sprinting in his direction. His arms looked to be open wide in a gesture of embrace. As the form came closer, there was a flash of recognition: his older brother. He must have been overseeing the field servants nearby when he spotted his younger sibling and came running toward him. Now, as he approached, the younger man saw that his brother’s arms were not open in embrace, but open in the universal gesture for “stop.” In just a few moments the two stood face-to-face.
The older spoke first: “What on earth are you doing here? After all you’ve done, how dare you set foot on this land?”
“I know I blew it,” the younger replied meekly. “I know I sinned. But I have nothing left. I’ve come to ask dad if he will let me be his servant.”
“Do you know what you did to dad when you left? Do you know how badly you shamed and embarrassed him in front of the entire community? He wants nothing to do with you.”
“I know he won’t ever take me back into the family. I wouldn’t even ask. But I know that he’s kinder to his slaves than most people are to their sons. I don’t need privileges. I just need kindness.”
“He doesn’t love you anymore. He doesn’t want you anymore. You’re dead to him.”
“I just want to talk to him. I just want to plead with him. I have seen him extend mercy to others—maybe he’ll extend it to me as well.”
“Mercy? To you? You’re an absolute disgrace. You disgust me and you’ll disgust him. You’re filthy. You stink.”
“I know. I know I do. I’ve been sleeping in barns. I’ve been eating with animals. I’m starving. I’m broken. I’m done.”
“I’m the future of this family. I’ve done everything dad has asked of me. I’ve obeyed his every word. It’s me he loves.”
“I know. I know you’re worthy of dad’s love. I know I’m not. But maybe dad has some love for the unworthy. I just want to ask. I just want to beg.”
“Come on! You know how just and fair dad is. He can’t just pretend you didn’t betray him. And he certainly hasn’t forgotten what you did to him. He won’t forget. He can’t forget.”
“I know. I can’t either.”
“None of us will ever forget what you did. None of us will ever forget who you are.”
As a tear cascaded from the young man’s eye, his older brother spoke once more: “Tell you what: You march yourself back up that road. I don’t want you to even think about coming back until you’ve cleaned yourself up, until you don’t stink anymore, until you’ve put on some decent clothes, and until you can reimburse dad every single penny you took from him. Then maybe, just maybe, he’ll be willing to see you.”
“I guess it’s only fair.”
“Go. Get out of here. You’re lost—don’t come back until you’ve found yourself.”
“You’re right. I’ll go. I’ll try to clean myself up. I’ll try to earn it all back. And if I do, I’ll return and prove myself to dad.”
And with that, the younger son turned around. He headed back up the roadway and past the boundary marker, each step extending the distance between himself and his father. His brother stood and watched him go, a satisfied grin on his face.
“I think I’m going to throw myself a little party,” he said. “I deserve it.”
(Author’s note: Have you ever considered what might have happened if the prodigal son met his older brother before his father?)

Happy Family Day to my fellow Canadians (who live in provinces that mark it). Happy Monday to everyone else!

Today’s Kindle deals include some excellent books for teens and young adults.
(Yesterday on the blog: The Power of True Holiness)
The Netflix Dilemma
“The ‘post-liberal’ condition we’re experiencing is, I think, closely tied to the choice dilemma. In other words, when human beings experience maximal self-determining liberty AND a virtually limitless set of options, more often than not the result will be frustration, not happiness.”
Pornography Use Is Becoming an ‘Acceptable’ Sin
“A recent poll shows pornography is affecting relationships between men and women—and reveals how indulging in porn is becoming an acceptable sin.” Joe Carter expresses concern.
The Curious Ways of God
“The other week I came across one of those sayings that sticks in your mind and makes you think: ‘An expert hits a target no-one else can hit; a genius hits a target no-one else can see.’ It struck me that there is a third level we could add: ‘the Lord hits a target no-one else can even imagine.’” I like that…
A Path for Marrying and Burying
“If you let them give me an Islamic funeral, I’ll come back and haunt all of you!” So begins a thought-provoking reflection from Central Asia.
Distinguished by Delight
“We long to be distinguished, to stand apart, to feel above from the crowds. As such, it is not surprising that an honorable way to introduce a famous or elite person is to say, ‘Please welcome the distinguished….’”
The State of a Heart
Melissa writes about the state of her heart (using more than one sense of the term).
Flashback: Something Left Undone
Longfellow’s “Something Left Undone” deals honestly with the reality that some things will always remain undone and that these incomplete tasks eventually become part of the burden we carry through life. I trust you’ll enjoy it as I did.

Your suffering does not define you. His does. —Dane Ortlund

This week I found myself pondering some powerful words from the pen of J.C. Ryle: “Satan knows well the power of true holiness and the immense injury which increased attention to it will do to his kingdom.”

We are called to God so we can become holy like God. He means for us to be as devoted to his purposes as he is and for that reason begins to transform us from the inside out—from the mind and heart to the hands and mouth.
Yet every Christian can attest that it is difficult to put sin to death and to come alive to righteousness. Every Christian can attest that we meet resistance on every side. Every Christian can attest that, when it comes to sanctification, this life is a long and difficult slog.
And little wonder, for Satan is the great enemy of God and, therefore, the great enemy of holiness. “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). Therefore, we must stand firm in the power God provides, always resisting the enemy of our souls. Satan knows that Christians living holy lives—living out God’s own holiness—would do damage to his cause in the world. Hence he battles hard to tempt us, to draw us away from God’s purposes and toward his own. And hence we, in turn, must resist him. For we, like him, know the power of true holiness.

Good morning! Blessings to you as you serve the Lord and worship him this weekend.

My gratitude goes to Zondervan for sponsoring the blog this week with news of Michael Horton’s new book Recovering Our Sanity.
There are (finally) a few new Kindle deals to look at.
(Yesterday on the blog: Same Words, Different Worlds)
Seek God’s Face Before You Seek His Hand
Sarah Walton: “The Holy Spirit has been gently opening my eyes to see my recent tendency to allow what I can see and understand to interpret God’s Character, rather than his character to interpret what I can see and understand. Therefore, I’ve been giving the enemy an easy target because it hasn’t take much for a difficult circumstance to make me question God’s faithfulness.”
Broken Hallelujahs
Julie Lowe ponders what it means to offer God a “broken hallelujah.”
When you lose your salvation based on a technicality
Jordan Standridge writes about that priest who had 20 years of baptisms invalidated because he confused a word.
Ten Commandments for Commentary Usage
Peter Krol: “In the interest of helping you make best use of commentaries in your Bible study, here are ten commandments for your consideration.”
Providence Showing Off
Sometimes providence shows off.
Fasting With Jesus
“Fasting is a bit of an oddity, isn’t it? Sure it is commanded, expected, and demonstrated in Scripture (Matt 9:15, Joel 2:12, and Acts 13:2-3, among many others), but why exactly are we to engage in this practice? After all, we can’t somehow coerce God by abstaining from food. And we don’t need something additional than praying in Christ and by faith (John 14:14). So what is the point of not eating while seeking the Lord in prayer? And is this a discipline we ought to be cultivating?”
Flashback: For You It’s Sin, For Me It’s Service
When you do it it’s proud grumbling; when I do it it’s humble service. That’s the difference between you and me. And that’s why I find your complaining so offensive. Yeah, that must be it.

The man who exposes himself to hear new truths oftentimes comes back with old errors newly dressed. —Obadiah Sedgwick