May the Lord bless and keep you this weekend.

My gratitude goes to RHB for sponsoring the blog this week with news of books that point children to Christ.
Today’s Kindle deals include some newer and some older titles.
(Yesterday on the blog: The Ones Who Sow and the Ones Who Reap)
Sin Is Death?
“While sin isn’t a substance in itself, that doesn’t make it any less lethal. Sin isn’t just a series or errors or poor judgments with momentary consequences. Sin is taking you somewhere. It’s leading you down a path of decay, a path that ends in spiritual death.”
What If God Doesn’t Speak to Me?
Lara d’Entremont: “I wanted to lie. I would strain and listen as hard as I could, but I never heard God speak to me. I never felt any nudges. I never experienced a fresh out-pouring of his Spirit. I never felt ‘peace’ about a decision like others described. He just doesn’t love me like he loves them.”
What Does It Mean That We Are “Justified by Faith, Not Because of Faith”?
This is no small distinction.
Not One Square Inch
“We tend to focus on the second verse in Matthew 28:18-19, where Jesus tells us to make disciples of the nations. But do we ever pay attention to the first verse? ‘All authority,’ Jesus says, ‘in heaven and on earth has been given to me’ (v. 18). Not some authority. Not half authority. Not even most authority. But all authority. Jesus is the authority.”
The Hidden Harm of Gender Transition
For the sake of the young people who face such harm, we need to share articles like this. “Grace is one of many who have been fast-tracked down a pathway of ‘treatments’ for gender dysphoria, while underlying mental health issues have remained undiagnosed and unaddressed. They are victims of the false claims of gender ideology. According to this ideology, all people have a gender identity—the gender they feel they are—that may have no relation to their biological sex.”
Don’t Go To Egypt
Craig Thompson asks, “Have you ever been so sure of God’s will in your life that you made plans for your next step while you waited for him to give you direction? Have you ever been wrong?”
Flashback: The Duties Required by the Ninth Commandment in a Social Media World
Think not only of what you say, but also what you read or listen to; the ninth commandment is not just meant to govern your mouth, but also your eyes, your ears, your heart, and your mind.

Leaders who want to show sensitivity should listen often and long, and talk short and seldom. Many so-called leaders are too busy to listen. True leaders know that time spent listening is well invested. —Oswald Sanders

Good morning. Grace and peace to you.

Today’s Kindle deals include a selection of books from Crossway. Among them are some excellent picks by Carl Trueman.
(Yesterday on the blog: Cling to the Cross!)
Before you watch Harry & Meghan
“Harry and Meghan are everywhere. As much as I’m trying to avoid them, the latest revelations are headline news for newspapers and the late-night news on tv. I’ve taken to wearing noise-cancelling headphones everywhere I walk (metaphorically speaking) as I way to block out the latest stories of who did what to whom. And because repeating them here makes me an accessory to gossip I have no intention to repeat the stories here.”
What Grumbling Sounds Like to God
Grumbling is no small sin! “What is in a grumble? The sound, unheard in heaven, is the heart shaking its head, rolling its eyes, cursing under its breath. It is the seemingly harmless exhale of several respectable sins — ingratitude, thanklessness, discontent. It’s a controlled rage, an itchy contempt, the muffled echo of Satan’s dismay. A broken tune. It can be voiced in a sigh or strangle a praise. It is the cough of a sick heart.”
For Norwegians So Loved the Bible, a New Translation Made Many Mad
What an interesting (and perhaps slightly disheartening) article about a new Bible translation for Norway.
FOBO: Gen Z’s FOMO
You’ve heard of FOMO. This article introduces FOBO. “What is FOBO? It’s the ‘fear of better options.’ The average young person’s inner dialogue seems to have shifted from What if I don’t go and they have fun without me? to What if I commit now and regret it later?”
Who Were the Nations in Nebuchadnezzar’s Prophetic Dream? (Daniel 2)
You know you’ve wondered!
Tell Me About a Time You Deeply Hurt Someone
“We learn to ask certain questions only after experiencing significant pain or dysfunction. A new question was recently clarified for me, one that I will be sure to ask in any future interviews with those who desire to serve overseas. That question is, ‘Tell me about a time you deeply hurt someone, and how you made things right.’”
Flashback: Big Sins Little Sins
We know that while all sin is the same in expressing rebellion against God, some sins show greater evidence of a hardened heart and bring more devastating consequences. In some ways all sin is the same and in some ways each sin is unique.

It is harder to live nobly—than to die heroically. —J.R. Miller

Charles Spurgeon said it. Billy Graham said it. And even though it’s not really all that funny anymore, most of us have probably said it as well. It goes something like this: “Don’t bother looking for the perfect church since, the moment you join it, it won’t be perfect anymore.” Zing!

There’s truth behind the quote, of course. It would be impractical and, frankly, ridiculous to expect that a bunch of sinful people could join together to create a sinless community—to imagine that perfection could arise from the confluence of a hundred lives as imperfect as yours and mine. Yet, though we know perfection is impossible, don’t we all sometimes still grow frustrated at the sheer messiness of Christian individuals and Christian churches? Don’t we all sometimes face the temptation to pack up and move on when our fellow believers act like the sinners they are?
A little while ago I was speaking to a young man who is a fan of computer-based Role Playing Games. He explained that what draws him to these games is the ability to custom-craft a character, then to discover how that unique character interacts within the world of the game. When he creates a new character, he is given a finite number of points that he can allocate in a nearly infinite number of ways—some to strength, some to intelligence, some to charisma, some to agility, and so on. In the end he has always created a character that has both strengths and weaknesses, all depending upon the way he has allocated the points. What he can never do is create a character that is only strong and not the least bit weak.
Though the comparison between a church and game may threaten to be trite, I have actually found it helpful and, frankly, encouraging. There seems to be a law in this broken world that every strength is tempered with some kind of a weakness, almost as if there is a finite number of “points” that can be allocated to any individual or any church. A pastor who is an especially powerful preacher may be an especially weak counselor; elders who are skilled and vociferous in defending the truth may fall short in grace and love; a church that takes worship services seriously may be lax when it comes to evangelism. None of these weaknesses is defensible and none of them is okay. Yet some kind of imperfection is always inevitable on this side of glory.
What’s true in churches is true in families. A husband may be extremely diligent in leading and providing, but lax in his spiritual disciplines. A wife may have penetrating insights into the Word, but be uncommitted to extending hospitality. Kids may be obedient but lazy, or hard-working but mouthy. We ourselves have to admit that for all our virtues, they continue to be tempered by a host of vices.
This being the case, it is irrational to expect that any one church, any one pastor, any one husband or wife, friend or child, can excel in every way. And this faces us with a challenge: Can we learn to tolerate their shortcomings? Can we learn to live with the way their “points” have been allocated? While we certainly don’t need to embrace sin or apathetically accept ungodliness, we do need to accept the inevitability of some faults, some defects, some areas that will always remain a sore disappointment. And, realistically, we have to know that even if there was strength in one area we lament, it would probably mean there would be weakness in one area we admire. No individual and no community of individuals can be the complete package. It just doesn’t work that way.
Hence, the path to joy in church, marriage, and life is to accept that there will always be imperfections, to accept that there will always be areas of disappointment—but to be willing to celebrate the strengths while tolerating the weaknesses. Just as it is the glory of a man to overlook an offense, it is the glory of a Christian to overlook a weakness—to find greater joy in what encourages than in what disappoints.