Let me remind you once more that my book Pilgrim Prayers will be released in just over a week. It’s available now for pre-order at Amazon and Westminster Books. If you plan to buy it anyway, pre-ordering helps booksellers make sure they have enough in stock on release day.
Today’s Kindle deals include Nik Ripken’s The Insanity of Obedience, Mary Jo Sharp’s Why I Still Believe, and more.
Meanwhile, Westminster Books has a good deal on a new book for younger Christians that covers the always-important topic of vocation. It is “a guide for young people seeking a calling.”

Richard Hays is a prominent theologian whose new book, co-authored with his son, suggests that God has changed his mind about same-sex sex. This matters because the views of the theologians tend to be quickly popularized and make their way to the pews. Tom Schreiner has an in-depth review.

This seems like an interesting and challenging one to me. Reflecting on people’s disconnection from nature, Shane Morris says “This is not the consequence of some economic downturn (none of these costs a penny to enjoy), environmental disaster (they’re all still here), or government conspiracy (birds are real, I checked). Rather, it is the result of a cultural withdrawal from objective, God-ordered reality into a dizzying funhouse of digital artificiality that has often left us blind to wonder, deaf to revelation, and dangerously ambivalent to the givenness of our world.”

Here are 7 tips for those who are setting out into a new academic year.

“I’m grateful for friendships where we can pass on the small talk and go right to the good and hard. Where we can humbly savor together the sweet places, and honestly confess the painful stuff of life.” Jill asked a friend about relating to adult children and received a great response.

I thought season one of Rings of Power was about as bad as a show can get. Brett McCracken reviews season two and says it shows some improvements. But I still don’t think I care enough to watch it.

John points out that a counselor—a marriage counselor in this case—is not meant to serve as a referee.

Katie Hulse: “Researchers in the fields of biomimetics and bioinspiration often give naturalistic evolution the credit for these designs. As one writer put it, ‘Given evolution has the benefit of millions of years of trial and error to perfect its designs in nature, it is logical that human construction can benefit in drawing from its influence.’ Yet evolutionary biologists are quick to assert that evolution is anti-teleological—it’s an undirected process that often results in poor designs.”

When we hear a sermon that stimulates our minds, we owe praise to God, not the preacher. When we hear a new song that provokes our hearts to worship, we ought to praise God long before the songwriter.

Your sins, child of God, can no more alter your Lord’s heart than can the petulance of a child alter its mother’s.
—F.B. Meyer

The God of love and peace be with you today.
In today’s Kindle deals you’ll find Al Mohler’s The Prayer that Turns the World Upside Down.
Westminster Books has the tremendous Focus on the Bible series of commentaries on sale. They are ideal for sermon preparation or personal study. The volumes by Dale Ralph Davis are typically considered especially strong. You’ll find discounts on individual volumes with deeper discounts on sets.

This article will take a measure of time and concentration but will prove rewarding, I think. “With cultural conversations increasingly centered on the radical proposals of critical race theory and queer theory, discussions of gender and feminism seem almost obsolete. However, a deeper analysis reveals that contemporary feminism is a critical social theory which shares the same basic framework as its more extreme ideological cousins.”

Travis shares some of what the Lord taught him through an extended Job season. “I yearned for answers that did not always come and prayed for relief that often seemed long delayed. But there were also plenty of ways in which I saw God’s hand clearly at work, and I want to share just a few of them.”

Denny Burk suggests that we may not have properly translated a well-known passage. “There is one detail in Jesus’ interaction with the woman at the well that caught my attention this time because I think it may be rendered incorrectly in most English translations.”

I’ve often thought about the way Abraham haggled with God. “At first glance, Abraham’s conversation with God in Genesis 18 may seem like one of the oddest stories in Scripture. Abraham haggling with God over the destruction of Sodom—and God negotiating the terms of judgment with a mere man? It’s a story I’d never have been bold enough to make up.”

Kim Riddelbarger writes and records lots of interesting material. Yesterday, on the 80th anniversary of D-Day, he took a pause from writing theology to share an account of another consequential invasion.

Patrick Miller writes about the problem (or one of the problems, at least) with livestreams. “A digital ministry, if you’re going to have one, can’t be skeuomorphic. It must be native to the digital platform. And the minute you go native, you must reflect on the nature of how that medium changes the message and the content itself—lest the medium become your message.”

Though torn from this world and separated from their bodies for a time, they are not torn from who they were.

…the only way to be productive is to realize we don’t actually have to be productive (our goal is to please God, not appease God).
—Matt Perman

Good morning. Grace and peace to you.
There are some great picks in today’s Kindle deals including Kevin DeYoung’s Do Not Be True to Yourself and Kent Hughes’ Disciplines of a Godly Young Man.
(Yesterday on the blog: Enough to Get Rebellious People Into Trouble)

I recently spent a delightful evening with David Zadok, a pastor in Israel, and was glad to read this profile of him at TGC.

Here are 7 useful tips about reading Revelation. “The temptation is to write off the book as impossible to understand and thus keep it closed. But doing so comes with significant loss. We understand why as we read the extraordinary promise in the book’s third verse…”

Come and see how the Lord is building His Church around the world. Join John Piper, Sinclair Ferguson, Conrad Mbewe, Kevin DeYoung, Steven Lawson, and many others October 16-18 in Jacksonville, FL. Early bird pricing ends April 19. (Sponsored)

“A few months ago, I read a blog in which some missionaries were talking about a difficult event that occurred with their children. In the comments on that post, a woman wrote something to the effect of: ‘If you have young children, it is clear: God has not called you to missions.’ I was not really surprised. People have asked us questions about our children throughout the years that belied the same assumption: missionaries are unable to keep their children safe on the mission field.”

“I fear that our cultural understanding of leadership is going further astray from true leadership. We Americans seem to have a bizarre attraction to two types of leaders: celebrities and powerful communicators with bold, brash opinions. We judge leaders by the size of their platform.” True, though it’s not just Americans.

“I’ve heard it said, ‘What doesn’t kill you will probably try again tomorrow.’ That’s just life in a fallen world. The devil prowls around like a roaring Lion seeking those to devour, but GOD! God is stronger than the what ifs of tomorrow where the enemy tries to belittle you and turn you away from the Lover of your soul. God is the One who chases after you all the more. Will suffering try to over take us? Yes.”

This article tells how elders within the local church ought to receive ongoing training—even if they aren’t on staff.

Masculinity has become complicated…The culture has plenty to say about masculinity that is toxic, but far less to say about masculinity that is good and honoring. 

If you have suffered deeply, you are onto something that most people aren’t. You know that this life is flawed. Strangely, that is a good thing! Now allow that to move you toward God, to renew your faith in him and your need of him.
—Tim Lane