Logos is having a Memorial Day sale that is offering a good number of products at solid discounts. Also remember that this month Base Packages are on sale.

Today’s Kindle deals include a couple of worthwhile titles.
(Yesterday on the blog: Seasons of Sorrow: Updates, Awards, and Aileen’s First Interview)
Are They the Ones Who Pray All the Time?
Wouldn’t that be a great way to be known—to be the ones who pray all the time?
Cynicism Isn’t a Spiritual Gift
Just because cynicism is common, doesn’t mean it’s okay (not to mention a gift)!
Are You Casual with the Holiness of God?
“Imagine that, after suffering a loss on the battlefield, an American army general decided to galvanize his troops by taking the Declaration of Independence into battle. Sounds a little farfetched, I know. What kind of general would play so fast and loose with one of the most precious artifacts in the nation’s history? Though it may not seem likely to happen with American soldiers, this scenario actually did play out in Israel as the era of judges came to a close.”
Fear is a Function of Worship
“I speak this line to people all the time: ‘Fear is a function of worship.’ And without fail, I get much the same response.” Keith Evans explains.
More Than You Can Handle
Seth illustrates the ways God tends to give us far more than we can handle. Than we can handle on our own, that is.
Why every church should practice “open” and “closed” communion
This article explains why communion should be both “open” and “closed.”
Flashback: How Can We Measure Spiritual Progress?
It should distress us to see how unlike Christ we still are. But it should encourage us to see that we truly have grown in Christlikeness, that as we spend time with him we have become like him. It should encourage us to see that we truly are being conformed to his image, truly are modeling ourselves after his example.

In Jesus, our judgment day was moved from the future to the past. —Scott Sauls

My thanks goes to The Good Book Company for sponsoring the blog this week. I am so grateful for each and every one of the sponsors who help keep this site going.

Logos has a sale on my recommended bundle of commentaries. Also, be sure to keep voting in March Matchups.
Today’s Kindle deals include a good selection of titles.
(Yesterday on the blog: Now What?)
How the Side B Project Failed
Bethel McGrew writes about the Side B project. “The speed of this decline naturally prompts a question: Was there ever anything to salvage? In its current incarnation, are we witnessing a radical moral turn? Or are we witnessing the inevitable end of an inherently flawed project?”
Lessons in Waiting for Water
“It stands to reason that we who live with the comforts of a first-world society should be the spiritual giants of our time. Think of all of the ways God has blessed us with safety and freedom and opportunity. Imagine how much of our lives could be spent falling on our knees in gratefulness, devouring the Word with expectation for what He will do next. Consider how much time we have to study, to worship, to pray, to reflect on the goodness of God when we don’t have to struggle to survive.” But…
The Story Isn’t Finished
Sarah writes very openly here. “Most of my fifteen years of motherhood have been spent sitting outside or inside my precious child’s room, trying to protect him by keeping him (and I) safe as his illness turned him into someone he couldn’t control. Fifteen years of traumatic memories and experiences I must carry mostly alone due to its nature.”
What does it mean to rejoice always, even with all the evil in the world?
Sinclair Ferguson: “To rejoice always doesn’t mean that we rejoice in the evil. It doesn’t mean that we like suffering, although we rejoice even in suffering. The basic explanation is that we rejoice in all circumstances because we have a reason to rejoice—and that reason is our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The Fears and Hopes We Sing in Lullabies
Nadya Williams writes about lullabies from her childhood. “So goes one of the melancholy lullabies I remember from my Russian childhood, and which I have been singing to my own children over the years out of habit, out of love, and out of the sense that at the end of the day, as they fall asleep, songs in a language they do not know still somehow speak more powerfully than spoken words in a language familiar to them.”
Love Letters of Scripture
This article considers the evident love in Scripture”s letters. “I want to have that kind of joy in my life. I want to rejoice in all that the Lord has given me with a humble spirit and a grateful heart. Paul’s letters are loving reminders of the gift of our salvation through belief in Jesus Christ.”
Flashback: It Takes a Church To Raise Your Child
The proverb demands more than allowing others to troubleshoot my children’s poor behaviour. It invites others to provide input into the development of their character.

Humility is the only soil in which true unity can grow. Only when Christ is more precious to us than our own reputations will we give up our petty rivalries and personal agendas. Only when his glory eclipses all else will we live for his cause and no other. —Michael Reeves

My church is once again offering an internship program for those who have completed seminary training or are near completion with the intention to pursue full-time pastoral ministry. Details are at the link.

(Yesterday on the blog: The Beauty of Duty)
Finding Family
“God’s family is a precious thing, bound by wine and bread instead of blood and resemblance. Its members don’t dress alike, share a uniform culture or a common language. But whether it be in a building or a living room, whether through candles and liturgy or guitars and blue jeans, whenever believers gather, we belong to each other. And wherever two or more of us come together, Jesus is there.”
What to Do with Regret
We all go through life carrying some regrets. Barbara offers some counsel on what to do with them.
What happens to God’s people after they die? (Video)
This is a question we have all wondered, isn’t it?
Speeding in Opposite Directions: ‘Lightyear’ and ‘Maverick’
I appreciate Brett McCracken’s two-for-one review of new films. “Where the original Toy Story was a wide-eyed marvel of artistry and enchanting storytelling, Lightyear is overstuffed and uninspired. And where Toy Story celebrated childhood as childhood, even leading adult viewers to feel like kids again, Lightyear does the opposite—pushing childhood into adulthood in inappropriate ways.”
Is Sermon Application Even Necessary?
Is sermon application necessary or optional? This article suggest it’s a necessary part of preaching.
“Let the Little Children Come To Me”
Kevin DeYoung says that the real monstrosity of Roe was not legal but moral.
Flashback: When God Seems Deaf To Our Cries
When Joseph was in the pit he must have cried out for God to deliver him then and there, to return him to his father that very day. But if God had answered that prayer, he would have preserved Joseph’s life only for it to end in starvation.

Making disciples is an act that calls for embodied presence. It requires sharing our lives. It demands we dive into the deep end – even if we’re not convinced we know how to swim. —Drew Hill