I like to provide the occasional reminder that a good bit of the content of this site is available in Spanish at es.challies.com. Enjoy!

(Yesterday on the blog: With Blistered Hands and Aching Backs)
How Does the Doctrine of the Bodily Resurrection Shape the Life of the Local Church?
From Credo magazine: “Biblical doctrine is not just for the head but for the heart, for daily life as a disciple of Jesus. So it is, too, with the doctrine of bodily resurrection. Thinking about the future will help us here and now. In local churches that are pursuing faithfulness to Christ, we will want to connect the importance of sound doctrine to the lives of our church members. How, then, does the doctrine of bodily resurrection shape the life of the local church? Let’s reflect on four ways.”
Forgetting God
Benjamin Shaw explains how we can be forgetful people–so much so that we can begin to become forgetful toward God.
My Unbelieving Dad Helped Me See Jesus
“I wouldn’t be the Christian I am today if it wasn’t for my father. Plenty of people express this sentiment, but I’m different. My dad isn’t a Christian.” This is a sweet testimony to God’s goodness.
How to Live for God by Fearing Him First
“The fear of God does not repulse us but attracts us. The fear of God does not enslave us but liberates us. The fear of God does not drive us to desperation but guides us to peace. In sum, there is no greater thing to fill our hearts than the fear of God. ”
God’s pleasure is not reserved for a particularly faithful few
Stephen wants us to consider that God’s “well done” is not reserved for just the particularly faithful few. And the reason for that is all about the work of Christ and our union with him.
Preaching that Moves the Heart
Here’s a good, basic take on preaching that moves the heart.
Flashback: Before You Pack Up and Leave…
What should you do when you begin feeling discontent at your church? What should you do when you feel that yearning to pick up and move on? What should you do when you find yourself eager to slip out of one church and into another? I’d like to offer just a few suggestions that I hope you’ll consider and put into practice.

Humans cannot truly thrive unless we hear and take to heart what God says about us, our purpose and our need. —Edward Welch

May you know the Lord’s blessings this weekend!

My gratitude goes to Getty Music this week for sponsoring the blog this week. Be sure to download your free Family Summer Hymnal filled with sheet music and MP3s for 20 Getty Music songs!
Today’s Kindle deals include a biography along with a few other picks.
(Yesterday on the blog: A Mid-Summer Family Update)
Does God Ever Tempt Us to Sin?
John Piper draws some important distinctions in his answer.
If God Knows Everything, do we have free Choice?
“If God knows everything, you basically have five types of explanations when it comes to free choice in saving faith…” Wyatt Graham outlines them.
The Value of Knowing Both Sides
“This skill—the skill of articulating both sides of an issue—is one that is in short supply in American culture. Most debates that we observe on television consist of two people trying to outshout and demonize each other. This is because it is much easier to dismiss opposing arguments than it is to understand them.”
Comedy Pet Photo
This is just for fun—the finalists from the 2022 Comedy Pet Photo competition.
Raiding Monticello
Janie Cheaney: “To make everything about one thing—whether racism, class warfare, democracy, or socialism—is to diminish all things. Only one idea is big enough to be about everything, and we worship Him so we don’t have to worship earthly heroes.”
Jesus is Not Ashamed of Subjects of Church Discipline
“Jesus instituted church discipline both to maintain the holiness of the church and to remind his people that he forgives them as they repent of their sins and submit to his lordship. We often focus on the first aspect—admonishment over sin that could end in excommunication. While this should get our attention and produce holy sobriety within us, it’s not the whole story. ”
Flashback: Foster Your Friendships
You need friends to temper your weakness, to challenge your sinfulness, to comfort your sorrows, to speak truth into your tragedies.

Let’s admit that we are not enough, and turn to the God who is. —Jen Oshman

I recently shared a message for young men. Having done that, I asked my friend Melissa Edgington if she would write an equivalent letter for young women. She kindly did so and allowed me to share it here.

Somewhere out there in the great, wide world, someone is praying for you. She probably doesn’t know you and you probably don’t know her. You may not meet one another for many more years. But she’s praying for you nonetheless and has been for a very long time. 
She is the mother of a son. She is a mother who once cradled a swaddled baby boy in her arms, bleary-eyed and sleep deprived, yet electric with the knowledge that this chubby-cheeked wonder was her own. She is a mother who thrilled at the sight of freshly plucked flowers clutched in a little boy’s outstretched hand. By day she laughed and groaned her way through his original knock-knock jokes, and by night she dreamt of what kind of man he would become, praying ceaselessly first for his salvation and then for his spiritual strength. She is a mother who implored the Creator of the Universe to make him into a man after God’s own heart.
From the time that she first laid eyes on this boy, she knew that he would one day fall in love with a woman. She has always understood that she is building a boy, body and heart and soul, to give away, both to the Lord’s service and to you. One part of her mission as a mother is the learning to let go a little bit, milestone by milestone, year by year, helping him stand on his own, helping him depend on Christ, and helping him become a man who will lead a family in devotion to the Lord and love his wife as Christ loves the church.
This mother has cooperated with Christ in bringing up a boy, training him, loving him, disciplining him, discipling him, and she has poured out everything that her heart can hold that might bless this child, her son, her treasure. In all of this she has prayed for you and is praying for you still.
She prayed for you in your childhood, for your safety and nurturing. She prayed that you would come to know Christ and that you would grow in your understanding of who He is and your role in His kingdom. She prayed that the Lord would protect you from the evil intentions of others, that He would rescue you from those would might seek to do you harm. 
And she prays for you still. For your heart, that it would beat for Christ alone. For your spirit, that it would be refreshed by the truth of God’s word. For your mind, that it would be filled with the goodness of God and thoughts that are true, right, noble, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy. She prays that you are developing spiritual disciplines that bring you to thankfulness in difficult circumstances, to reliance on the One who has the answers, and to peace that passes all understanding. She prays that you are growing into a woman who has a passion for God’s people and a desire to serve the Lord. She prays that you will love her son, unconditionally, unendingly, and with tenderness and grace. And she asks the Lord to allow you and her precious child, her boy, to live a long and beautiful life of sacrifice and service, side by side, arm in arm.
She prays for you now. You will one day meet and fall in love with her cherished one, and all of these years, perhaps you never imagined that you have been carried on the wings of his mother’s prayers. Take comfort in knowing that somewhere, a mother is praying for you. Seek the Lord, dear girl, and grow in your love for Him so that you may become God’s good answer to a mother’s prayers.