This sponsored post was provided by Burke Care, and written by Jen Arend , which invites you to schedule care today with a certified biblical counselor.
Is there one Christmas theme that strikes you each year without fail? For me, it is “Immanuel, God is with us” (Matthew 1:23).[1] What is it about this name of Jesus that is so gripping? God became a man, stooping down to this sin-cursed earth, taking on the weakness of human flesh, and humbling himself to the nth degree to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). A stable for a King. Washing dirty feet. A criminal’s death. God is with us… 
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; although He was rich, for your sake He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich.” — 2 Corinthians 8:9
Our God is a God who came near. Jesus, Immanuel, God is with us. Collectively and historically in the birth of Christ, God showed that He is a God who draws near. Immanuel is also incredibly personal and intensely practical, as we live our lives each day. God is with you. 
Think of your fears. Fear needs a person.[2] When a child wakes up in the middle of the night, crying inconsolably, what does she do? There is no peace until she is in the arms of her loving mom or dad. She runs to find them, and even an attuned parent will run to meet her in her distress. The tears may continue, and her heart may still race. But by the comforting embrace of her parents, she is eventually consoled. Peace floods her heart, and she can rest again. Fear needs a person. Immanuel, God is with us.
Where do you turn when anxiety strikes? Most of us struggle alone, as though we are orphans. You are not an orphan. Immanuel, God is with us. You can run to him! He is near, and His nearness eventually quells your fears, giving you that “peace which transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). Often, we read Philippians 4:6 out of context, like a band aid that is supposed to help us with our anxiety. “Do not be anxious about anything…” Have you ever noticed what comes right before Philippians 4:6? The Lord is near. The Lord is near. The Lord is near. Immanuel, God is with us.
How might Immanuel change you this season as you face your anxiety? 
1.      Remember, you are not alone. You are not an orphan, crying out in the dark with no one to help. God hears your cry. As the most attuned Father, He runs to help. He is with you.
2.      Remember, you can run to Him. Will he rebuke you in your fears? No! Would a good parent do that to a frightened child? Of course, not! Jesus is a tender Shepherd, beckoning you to come to Him (Matt. 11:28). He will not turn you away in your fears. You have a Father, compassionate and loving, welcoming you with open arms.
3.      In running to Him, you may not find immediate peace. It may take time, even a long season of remembering who your Father is for you. Just as a child will require time to calm down in the presence of love, so too, you may need time in the presence of the Lord. That is okay. Give yourself time, even as you draw near to the Lord. 
In your struggle to believe, remember He is Immanuel, God is with us.
[1] All Scripture references: Holman Christian Standard Bible.
[2] Lauren Whitman, “Every Day Problems in Counseling,” Lecture 10, (Glenside, PA: Westminster Theological Seminary).
Immanuel, who will we go to? You have the words of eternal life. (Jn. 6:68)
Immanuel, when I am filled with cares, your comfort brings me joy. (Ps. 94:19)
Immanuel: Do not fear for I am with you. Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand. (Is. 41:10)
Application:
1.      Where do you turn when you are feeling anxious? Do you depend on your own strength to fight your anxiety? Like a child, run to Jesus. Fear needs a person.
2.      Is there a Scripture that brings you comfort in times of distress? Meditate on that truth or even write it on a card to refer to when you are fearful.
3.      When you feel overcome with anxiety, can you begin with a simple, “Help, Lord!”? Turning to the Lord in any way may just bring a measure of unexpected peace, as you turn and reflect on the character of your heavenly Father.
4.      As you pursue deeper fellowship in the local church, is there someone that you can ask to pray for you? Turning to the Lord is best done in community with other believers. Remember, you are not alone.
As you celebrate this Christmas season, remember Immanuel, God is with us. And if we at Burke Care can help you or a loved one draw near to the Lord in this season, we would count that a great privilege.

Every now and again I jot down a thought that I’d like to ponder but that I don’t intend to tease out into an article. After all, not every idea is worthy of a full-length treatment. Hence, today I’ve got a long list of brief, random (and unsolicited) observations and pieces of advice related to the local church. I hope there is something here that benefits you.

You are a contributor to your church’s strengths and weaknesses. Your giftedness makes your church stronger and your sins and weaknesses make it weaker. Whenever you are tempted to grumble about your church, you need to remember that even if you can be part of a solution, you are also part of the problems. Be humble.

It’s no cliché that Sunday morning begins on Saturday evening. Your experience of church will be much different if you stay up late watching movies you shouldn’t be watching versus if you go to bed at a reasonable time after refraining from sinful behavior. If you want to get the greatest benefit from the worship services, you need to plan ahead.

There are no perfect churches. Every church has its unique collection of strengths and weaknesses. Though it can often look attractive to leave a church because of its weaknesses, the new church will have plenty of its own. Count the cost before moving on.

One of the best compliments that can be paid to a Christian is this: You are a good churchman.

Make it your habit to pray through the membership directory. You cannot help but come to love people as you pray for them. It’s also a great way to get to know names and faces (not to mention to the names and faces of children).

It is very common—but rarely a good idea—to change churches amid a personal crisis or immediately following one. In times of great difficulty, it is usually best to allow the local church to be a source of stability. It’s wise to distrust yourself in your most difficult times. Stay put for now and only consider moving when life has stabilized.

If and when it does come time to leave a church, leave it well. Most of the time that will involve seeking counsel and affirmation from trusted people, notifying the elders well in advance, expressing your gratitude to them, and then leaving without taking anyone else with you and without undermining other people’s confidence in their leaders.

One unheralded ministry in the church is the ministry of arriving early. In many churches, it is often guests who arrive first and they can feel awkward if they are alone. Those who get there early have the opportunity to serve in welcoming newcomers and engaging them in conversation. Conversely, those who continually show up late miss out on many opportunities to serve others.

Another unheralded ministry is the ministry of singing loud. Our culture doesn’t really know what to do with singing and few people have been trained to sing well and confidently. If you have a good voice and know how to use it, you can bless the people around you by singing out your praises in as loud a voice as is appropriate.

Far too many Christians move from one city to another without first ensuring there is a good church in the new location. Always make sure you are caring for yourself and your family by identifying sound churches in your new place.

Few people want to be part of a church that doesn’t pray, but few people want to attend a prayer meeting. You should ponder this conundrum.

The Lord’s Supper is for sinners, not perfect people. If you come to church deep in a sin that you have no intention of giving up, you would do well to refrain from participating in the Lord’s Supper. But if you have sinned through the week and know the sorrow and shame of it, if you are repenting of that sin before the Lord and pleading for his grace, then by all means, participate. This means of grace is for you!

Baptism takes on new dimensions of meaning when you understand it as not only as a personal act of obedience for an individual but as an ordinance that has meaning to everyone in the church. It is a communal rite, not a personal one.

The greater the number of churches in a particular area, the more each church can create a very defined identity around lesser matters. The fewer the number of churches in a particular area, the more the churches there may be well-served by creating a broader identity around the most important matters.

Church membership matters. It is a great privilege and a great responsibility of the Christian to be formally connected to a particular local church.

It’s okay to be on the losing side of votes or decisions in the life of the church, especially when they are over relatively mundane matters. When the decision is made by the leaders or the majority of members, don’t sulk or whine. Instead, become an advocate of that decision. After all, isn’t God likely to work his will through a prayerful majority?

If you have a beef or concern with the sermon, it’s always a good idea to wait until a few days have passed before approaching the pastor. Also, be sure to distinguish between a bad sermon and a weak sermon—a sermon in which the pastor preached error and a sermon in which he simply may not have been at his best.

There is a lot of gossip in churches. Make the commitment that whatever gossip you hear will never be passed on. Make sure it ends with you.

Churches can inadvertently (or even deliberately) slip into a posture of competition toward one another. One way to head this off is to deliberately and publicly pray for other nearby churches. Pastors do well to integrate this into their pastoral prayers.

It’s okay to clap or raise your hands in worship. It’s okay not to. A lot depends on the customs of the church you are part of. But if it is a custom within your church, it’s probably worth giving it a try as a means of physically expressing your worship.

It is far better to arrive at church each week as a worshipper than a critic. It is far better to determine you will seek out and enjoy whatever good you can find in the church than to identify and nitpick every weakness. It will be better for you and better for everyone else if you come to worship eager to enjoy every blessing.

It is a blessing when the adults in a church take an interest in the children. It is a blessing when parents know that the Christians around them love to befriend and influence their children. So do your best to forge relationships with some of those little people.

Try to make your church the kind of place where young preachers can confidently preach their very first sermons. Though those sermons are probably not going to be very good, ensure those young men receive a lot of encouragement and affirmation.

There is entirely too much unnecessary church-changing. Of course, there are times when leaving one church for another is necessary and good. But there is also something to be said for enduring through a church’s times of difficulty and having a long, faithful ministry among a particular people.

While there are many good causes and many great ministries that need financial support, make the local church the main priority in your giving. And do that giving with joy.

When there is a loud noise in church—a child who cries out, a disabled person who causes a disturbance, a member who drops their water bottle on the floor—be the person who doesn’t turn to look at them. They’re already embarrassed enough.

The one ministry that always needs more people is the childcare ministry. Get your name on the list to serve it!

When you are on vacation or otherwise far from home, make it a point to visit a church. And, if you can, try to make it a church that is true and strong but quite a lot different from your own. You will learn a lot about how Christians worship in ways that are the same but different. You may even spot a strength or custom that you would like to take back to your own church.

When you are on vacation or otherwise far from home in a country that does not speak English, make it a point to visit a church. In all likelihood, there is someone in the church who speaks English and who can help you get settled. You will be surprised and encouraged by how much you can still participate and how much you can still benefit even when you barely understand a word. Worship is a universal language.

When visiting a church that is not your own, do your best to attend as an observer rather than a judge. Some elements may appear strange or even wrong, but if you pay close attention and ask good questions, you may find that each element makes sense within the context of that church.

As soon as a worship service ends, make it your goal to meet someone you have never met or to spend time with someone you barely know. You can catch up with your close friends later. The first two minutes matter most.

The older you get and the more your children move away from your home, city, and church, the more you will treasure sitting in church with your family. So learn to enjoy it while your children are young, rather than dread it or complain about it. These are the good ol’ days and the time will come when you will find yourself wishing they would return.

Good morning. Grace and peace to you.
Today’s Kindle deals include a selection from Crossway.
If you missed it over the weekend, Westminster Books is wondering if you know of an aspiring pastor, missionary, counselor, or teacher. If you do, they’ve got a gift they’d like to send them.
(Yesterday on the blog: A Prayer to Our Father)

Glenna has a beautiful piece about visiting a nursing home with her church to serve its residents.

This is an interesting take on the domestication of animals—and one I find myself agreeing with.

Jim Elliff says that “giving is a sign of something. You give according to your own desire, not begrudgingly and mournfully as if you are parting with your vital organs. It is the expression of your love. God likes to keep it on this basis. Attitude is every bit as important as amount—no, much more so. You should want to give.”

“It would be all too easy for Protestants to overreact against the excessive devotion given to Mary by many and either ignore her completely or treat her like any other woman. That would be a great mistake, for she was, in Elizabeth’s words, ‘blessed among women’. We mustn’t elevate her to a position God never intended her for – which she herself would have been appalled by – but at the same time she has much to teach us.” She does, indeed.

Tim Briggs provided a roundup of his favorite Christian folk and worship of 2023—what he calls his Jesus-y, Folky, Singer-songwriter-y, Worship-y, High Quality Music Awards. (See also Brett McCracken’s list at TGC.)

Randy Newman offers some counsel on witnessing to family during the holidays. “How might we evangelize our family on what appears to be a minefield? It may prove helpful to begin with some internal preparation before we brainstorm strategies for external interaction. In fact, framing the topic through before, during, and after scenarios might ease the burden of our endeavor.”

God reveals himself as the good Father who searches and knows the deepest recesses of my heart. His Son is the very Man of Sorrows who is intimately acquainted with grief and who can sympathize with me in my every weakness. 

True happiness does not lie in the obvious and natural choice but in the countercultural and Christian one.
—Alistair Begg

From time to time I like to share an example of a pastoral prayer that was prayed at Grace Fellowship Church. The pastoral prayer is a time for one of the pastors or elders to pray before the congregation and to intercede on their behalf. It’s a precious element of a service. I prayed this prayer earlier this month.

Our Father in heaven, what a joy it is that we can call you “Father.” You rule over this earth, but don’t tell us to pray to “your majesty.” You are high and lifted up, but you don’t tell us to address you as “your highness.” You are judge of the living and the dead, but don’t tell us to say “your honor.” Instead you invite us to call you “our Father.” And so we don’t speak to you today as subjects before a king, or citizens before an emperor, or plaintiffs before a judge—we speak to you as children before a father. We speak as children who are confident that our Father loves us, confident that our Father hears us, confident that our Father is eager to act for our good.
Father, we have already confessed that we are like sheep who have gone astray. But we are also like children who have rebelled against a kind and benevolent father, a father who has only ever loved us, a father who has only ever acted in ways that benefited us. We have chosen to defy you, to revolt against your authority, to go so far as to wish you were dead. We are so sorry. And we are so thankful that you continued to love us, that you continued to care about us, that you patiently and willingly drew us to yourself. What a God you are! What a Father you are!
For those of us who are fathers, we pray that we would learn from you, that we would model our fathering after yours, that we would look to the way you relate to us and extend all of that mercy, all of that love, all of that compassion to the children you’ve blessed us with. Let us love as we have been loved. Let us be fathers in the way you are a Father.
Father, we thank you for the many precious gifts you’ve given us, not the least of which is this church. Thank you that since we are all your children and you are Father to us all, you’ve drawn us together into this community, this family.
We thank you for granting us the gift of elders and deacons and Father we ask that they would serve well, that the elders would lead on your behalf and that the deacons would serve on your behalf. And we pray that you would grant us more elders and more deacons. You promise that if we ask according to your will you will listen and you will provide. We know it is your will for a church to be led by elders and served by deacons, so we ask that you would raise up members of this church who would be called, and qualified, and willing to serve as elders. We pray that you would raise up members of this church who would be called, and qualified, and willing to serve as deacons. We see this as a great need in this church and so we pray that you would grant what we ask. We pray that you would burden individuals to serve and we pray that you would grant wisdom to the members so we can identify those people and simply acknowledge your calling on their life.
We thank you that you are not Father only to the people in this congregation but to Christians throughout the world, throughout the country, throughout the city. We think today of our brothers and sisters at [nearby local church] on the east side of Toronto. Please bless them as they meet to worship you today. Please bless [pastor] as he pastors that church. He has served there faithfully for many years and we ask that you would grant him many more. We pray that you would help the people of that church to serve as a faithful and committed part of your family right here in this city.
And Father as we turn to the Word, to hear it read and preached, we ask that you would help us listen attentively and apply diligently. We pray that we would listen as children who so badly need the wisdom of their Father, as children who are committed to imitating their Father, and as children who long to please their Father. I pray that you would speak and we would listen—that you, who are perfect and unchanging, would do a great work within us who are imperfect and in desperate need of change. Please let us leave here today as children who have heard from their Father, who have grown in love and trust for their Father, and who are eager to be like their Father.
We pray all this in the name of our precious Savior, our elder brother, Jesus Christ. Amen.

I’m very grateful to BJU for sponsoring the blog this week to provide a A Biblical-Theological Examination of Melancholy. Sponsors play a key role in keeping this site going, and I’m grateful for each one.
Westminster Book is wondering if you know of an aspiring pastor, missionary, counselor, or teacher. If you do, they’ve got a gift they’d like to send them.
There are pretty much always some new Kindle deals on Saturdays, and today is no exception.
(Yesterday on the blog: Like a River)

While writing a book about deconstruction, Tim Barnett wondered “why so many who deconstruct their faith end up leaving the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” He puts the pieces together in this article at Stand to Reason.

“If you spend any time in Christian missions, you’ll almost certainly notice more women serving than men. That’s what I’ve observed wherever I’ve traveled overseas, and the statistics bear this out. For over a century, women have made up the majority of the evangelical missionary workforce.” Elliot Clark reflects on that reality.

Anne Kennedy has a helpful assessment of what Sheila Wray Gregoire teaches about sex in her books and podcasts.

“15,409 days. That’s how long my dear wife lived on this Earth. When we were dating, we obviously had no idea. When we got engaged, there were no mystical revelations. And when we got married, this number certainly wasn’t written on the back of the marriage certificate for us to see.” Andy considers what might have been different had they known.

“Unless and until adequate answers can be given to these questions, the claim that the Pastoral Epistles are the work of the apostle Paul himself, and not of a pseudepigrapher, or even of a close disciple writing after his death, must be allowed to stand as a valid position based on proper scholarly criteria.”

“Shepherd feet make paths. Up hills and through fields. As shepherds do what shepherds do. Tending flocks. And keeping watch. Under sun and stars and moon. Alert for thieves and predators. Protecting the sheep. And little do they know. Their ordinary feet are about to change. Into the extraordinary. Beautiful feet.”

John and Cindy Raquet parent as weirdly as any of us, but their weirdnesses generally overlap with my own, and it’s for that reason that I so enjoyed reading their book Purposeful and Persistent Parenting.

Grace does not make sin safe. But grace does make sinners safe.
—Matt Chandler

This week Free Stuff Friday is sponsored by BJU Seminary. They are giving away a commentary on Matthew written by the late Dr. Stewart Custer, who served 56 years at the Seminary and BJU. BJU Seminary equips Christian leaders through an educational and ministry experience that is biblically shaped, theologically rich, historically significant, and evangelistically robust.
The Gospel of the King: A Commentary on Matthew by Stewart Custer

The Gospel of the King is Stewart Custer’s commentary on Matthew for personal Bible study or sermon preparation. Longtime chairman of the Division of Bible at Bob Jones University, Custer blends expertise and gentleness. Original translation and practical applications accompany his exposition. Notes offer sermon outlines and highlight important terms. Includes topical and Scripture indexes and an annotated bibliography.
Grow your understanding of our Savior’s birth and kingship this Christmas season!
To Enter
Giveaway Rules: Enter for a chance to win one of one copy of The Gospel of the King. You may enter one time. When you enter, you agree to be placed on BJU Seminary email list. The winner will be notified by email and the giveaway closes on December 15th, 2023.

Like a River

Not too long ago a friend asked me, “Hey, did you hear that Granger Smith is now a student at Southern Seminary?” “No, I hadn’t heard that,” I replied. Then I surreptitiously Googled “Who is Granger Smith?” I learned that he is—or was, at least—a country music singer, and apparently a tremendously successful one. But he had chosen to leave touring behind to focus instead on becoming a pastor. It seemed like there must be a story to tell, but I didn’t think much more about it until last week when I saw a book with his name on the cover listed among Amazon’s daily Kindle deals. I bought it, read it in a day, and was glad that I did. There was, indeed, a story to tell—a story that was tragic but inspiring and encouraging.
In 2019 Granger Smith was flying high. His career was booming, his albums were selling, and his fan base was building. He was filling concert halls and performing in stadiums. It was all he had ever dreamed of. And it was just then, at the height of his success, that he encountered a terrible tragedy. One day he was playing outdoors with his children when he suddenly noticed that his three-year-old son River had disappeared. He sprinted to the pool and found his son face down. Despite his efforts and the efforts of paramedics and doctors, there was nothing that could be done. River was gone.
River was gone and his father soon realized he was not equipped to deal with such a loss. A self-professed “Dog-Tag Christian”—someone who was just Christian enough to have it stamped on his dog tags if he was a soldier being sent to war—Granger quickly turned to a rigorous regimen of self-help techniques and life on the road. “The truth is, I had no idea how to deal with this kind of pain. It broke into my world like a thief and stole my joy, my passion for life, my sanity, and it replaced them with something far more sinister: guilt.” He found some comfort in marijuana and alcohol, but only some.
It did not take long before the sorrow and guilt caught up with him. One evening, drunk and high and alone, he got within moments of taking his life. A gun was in his mouth and his finger was on the trigger when suddenly he became aware of the presence of evil around him. “There was an intruder in my presence. I was paralyzed by this new realization—I wasn’t alone in the room that night. I had been hunted, ambushed, flanked, surrounded, and put under attack by an enemy far beyond my ability to defeat.” He ripped the gun from his mouth and spontaneously cried out to Jesus. “My God, my Jesus! Save me! Save me, Jesus!” And that was the start, the prequel perhaps, of a whole new chapter in his life. 
In that moment I was reborn! Right there in that truck on a small county road in Texas, the old me died.Granger SmithShare
A short time later he was listening to a message by John Piper—a message about God’s love for his people—when “my eyes were opened to see things like never before. I was loved! I felt it. Not because of anything I had done. In fact, I certainly didn’t deserve it, yet He had adopted me as a son. That revelation while hearing the gospel triggered a flood—not the hopeless flood I had felt after losing River but God’s covenant flood of His Spirit to live in me and walk with me. … In that moment I was reborn! Right there in that truck on a small county road in Texas, the old me died.”
The old me had died and the new me had much different passions and desires. That transformation equipped him to come to peace with his loss and eventually led to the decision that my friend had asked me about in the opening words of this review: “Did you hear that Granger Smith is now a student at Southern Seminary?” 
I will leave it to you to read Like a River and learn why and how he stepped away from touring to prepare for pastoral ministry. And I’ll leave it to you to read his reflections on God’s purposes and comforts in grief. I’ll leave it to you to read about how God blessed him and his family in the aftermath of their great loss. Whether you’ve heard of Granger Smith before now or not, and whether you know him as a multi-platinum recording artist or a Greek-memorizing seminary student, I think you’ll be blessed by reading his story.

May the Lord be with you and bless you today. 
I continue to marvel at the amazing Kindle deals that are so consistently available to us. What a blessing to be able to build a substantial library at just a couple of dollars a book!
(Yesterday on the blog: 2024 Christian Reading Challenge)

Casey McCall raises a valid concern about beginning evangelism with the question “If you died tonight, where would you spend eternity?” “The promise of eternal life is a powerful motivator for faith and a precious promise of hope and comfort for God’s people. However, I fear that the church has so emphasized ‘going to heaven when you die’ that we sometimes give the impression that’s all faith is good for.”

This is a helpful article about the internal and external call to vocational ministry. A legitimate call is best understood as involving both of them.

Karen Harmening: “‘When will they stop talking about it?’ A question that is perhaps thought more often than spoken regarding grieving parents who continue to talk about their children and their sorrow. I’ve only heard it asked a couple of times, but have thought of it countless times since, and this month in particular.” She explains why she can’t and won’t stop talking about it.

Barnabas considers Christ’s first and second advent and the dramatic differences between them.

Here are six reasons that the virgin birth was necessary.

Justin considers relationship online and offline. “As Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) improve and gain prominence, proximity will seem less important. It’s not. God made us with physical bodies to live in a physical world. Technology brings us closer, but digital connection is like frozen pizza, it tastes like the real thing but can never replace it.”

Though we crave rest and need it so very badly, too often it simply will not come. But always we can rest on this sweet promise: God gives his beloved sleep.

Christ went more readily to the cross than we do to the throne of grace.
—Thomas Watson

Do you love to read? Do you want to learn to love to read? Do you enjoy reading books that cross the whole spectrum of topics and genres? Then I’ve coordinated with Visual Theology to create something that may be right up your alley—the 2024 Christian Reading Challenge.
Whether you are a light reader or completely obsessed, this 2024 Christian Reading Challenge is designed to help you read more and broaden the scope of your reading.
How It Works
The 2024 Christian Reading Challenge is composed of 4 lists of books, which you are meant to move through progressively. You will need to determine a reading goal early in the year and set your pace accordingly.

The Light Reader. This plan has 13 books which sets a pace of 1 book every 4 weeks.
The Avid Reader. The Avid plan adds another 13 books which increases the pace to 1 book every 2 weeks.
The Committed Reader. This plan adds a further 26 books, bringing the total to 52, or 1 book every week.
The Obsessed Reader. The Obsessed plan doubles the total to 104 books which sets a demanding pace of 2 books every week.

Begin with the Light plan, which includes suggestions for 13 books. Choose those books and read them in any order, checking them off as you complete them. When you have finished those 13, advance to the Avid plan. Use the criteria there to choose another 13 books and read them in any order. Then it’s time to move to the Committed plan with a further 26 books. When you have completed the Committed plan (that’s 52 books so far!), you are ready to brave the Obsessed plan with its 104 books. Be sure to set your goal at the beginning of the year so you can make sure you’re reading at the right pace.
All you need to do is download the list (or buy a printed version—see below), choose your first few books, and get going. Happy reading in 2024!

Ideas

Take the challenge with your spouse and divide the list in two.
Take the challenge with your family and divide the books between the entire family
Take the challenge with your youth group or small group and divide the books between all of you. Regularly report on your progress with short reviews.
Set your goal and read the books from all of your lists in any order (rather than progressing from Light to Avid to Committed).
Discard all the rules and choose books from any plan in any order. Use the 2024 Christian Reading Challenge as a guide to diversifying your reading.
Use #vtReadingChallenge to connect and to keep track of others on social media.
Have fun with it!

Get the Challenge
The 2024 Christian Reading Challenge is available from Visual Theology and you can download it for free. Alternatively, you can purchase it as a professionally printed poster or an HD file that you can print at home or take to a local printer. Either way, happy reading!

Westminster Books has deeply discounted the excellent Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament series. I’d especially recommend Schreiner on Romans and Revelation, Moo on Galatians, and Beale on Colossians & Philemon.
I added quite a number of excellent Kindle deals yesterday and plan to add some more this morning.
(Yesterday on the blog: My Favorite New Songs of 2023)

This is an important article about what it means to die with dignity. “The conversation around MAiD puts front and center the questions of what makes life worth living and, by implication, in what circumstances a life might no longer be worth living. In the modern Western ethos of entrepreneurial individualism, the cardinal virtues include efficiency and productivity.”

“We often show what is important to us by what we do. It’s easy to say, ‘I want to please the Lord more than anything else,’ but it’s another thing to act like it.” I think we can all attest to our own inconsistencies there.

“A baby who was the High King of Heaven. In a feeding trough. It’s a shocking picture, really, when you think about the humility of Christ. To step down from the literal throne of Heaven itself, take on our humanity, and enter our world as an infant born into poverty among an oppressed people is hands down the most extreme display of humility in all of history. Nothing else comes close.”

This article explains how and why Uzzah was struck down for touching the Ark of the Covenant.

Samuel discusses the role of personal experiences in shaping people’s understanding of the world. “When it comes to empathy, many people who say they ‘believe the victims’ are carrying experiences and knowledge around that is literally impossible to transmit effectively. They dislike Calvinists or complementarians, partially on principle, and then partially because over the years, in dozens of obscure articles, personal conversations, and unspoken observations, they have built up an idea whose origins are mostly inaccessible to anyone else.”

Wes spent a year reading the New Testament in Greek rather than English. His reflections are really interesting and make me wish I had progressed a bit further in Greek!

As we parted ways that day, Aileen and I both knew without the smallest shadow of a doubt: God did this. In fact, Aileen has often said that this was the very moment she really understood that God was caring for us in our loss. And it was not through a miracle, but through providence.

The anguish which love endures for others’ sins is among the saddest of earth’s sorrows.
—J.R. Miller