Today’s Kindle deals include a bit of an eclectic selection of titles.

Westminster Books has a good selection of books and Bibles deeply discounted (with time for them to arrive before Christmas).
(Yesterday on the blog: Delayed Obedience Is Disobedience (Except When It Isn’t))
Hedgerows and Big Yellow Trucks
This is a good read that teaches a key lesson. “A hard rain was falling that afternoon, and I was eager to get home. After a long day of doctor appointments in the city for my son Ben, I loaded up the car with groceries and headed up the twisting road to our home in the mountains. Only a few miles up, however, a large yellow County Roads Department truck suddenly pulled out in front of me, making me hit the brakes in frustration. I stewed and fumed as the big truck ground upwards at 20 mph instead of my usual 45.”
To Affirm Is To Apostatise
This seems like an increasingly important topic of discussion among Christians: just how serious a sin is it to deny what the Bible calls sin?
Lessons from the Hardest year
Darryl Dash: “In suffering alongside someone, you take on some of that suffering. It’s like taking an audit course: you’re there, and you hear the lesson, but you don’t do much of the homework, even if you want to, even as you watch them carry the full load and try your best to help. It’s another thing altogether to enroll in the school of affliction.”
Pastor, Don’t Get Cute this Christmas
Kevin DeYoung considers the temptation toward novelty at Christmas. “Don’t do it, pastor. Don’t get cute at Christmas. Your people need regular meat and potatoes, not the newest eggnog recipe. Stay away from props and video clips. Put to death the Star Wars tie-in you’ve been really excited about. Don’t worry about preaching the same truths and the same themes. They don’t remember last year’s sermon anyway. Go ahead and tell them the old, old story one more time.”
Jesus Sings
Daniel has a helpful call to make sure you don’t overlook the small and seemingly unimportant details in Scripture.
God With Us
“The first year is the hardest. I heard that phrase repeatedly from well-meaning people attempting to comfort me after my 39-year-old husband died suddenly of a heart attack. As the days and weeks passed without him, their words led me to believe that if I could hold on until the first anniversary of his passing, everything would be ok. Even though I was rational and knew Ray couldn’t come back, part of me hoped it just might happen.”
Flashback: The Great Challenge of Every Marriage
In marriage, God allows us to see one another as we really are, then to accept one another as we really are—as holistic human beings who are a mixture of holy and depraved, grownup and immature, wonderful and almost unbelievably annoying.

It’s not that you do part of the work and God does the rest; it’s not that you do a little bit and God does a whole lot. Rather, in Christ’s church the Holy Spirit does everything. —Harold Senkbeil

Westminster Books is offering deep discounts on a whole collection of new books that they deem especially noteworthy. There are some very good picks there.
I added some new Kindle deals yesterday and will hope to do so again today.

Jon Nielson has quite a helpful description of demons and how Christians ought to think about them.

Trevin explains how there is a huge and irreconcilable contradiction in the various transgender theories.

Stephen McAlpine wants pastors to stop “bagging out” the average church member. “With the right gospel vision, the right training and framework, the right encouragement, and the right recognition of what the average church member’s life is already like, the average church member is more than willing to be part of the mission of the church. The key is to take their lives and experiences seriously as the first step.”

Like myself, T.M. Suffield is color blind. He uses this fact to spark a moving reflection.

Patsy Kuipers writes about “the sad relief,” which she considers “an apt description of the blend of sorrow and joy known to Christians because we’re able to grieve with hope”
Alistair Begg and the Loving Thing
I’m sure by now you’ve heard about Alistair Begg’s recent comments about attending a wedding that involves a homosexual/transgendered person—comments that were made as he discussed his book The Christian Manifesto. You can find his original comment here and his more detailed explanation here. Among the blogs I follow, I have seen just a couple of responses: Anne Kennedy has some thoughts on it in Alistair Begg and the Loving Thing while Stephen Kneale takes a somewhat similar view but focuses a bit more on whether this is always an issue of biblical fidelity or whether it at times falls into the category of wisdom. I see a number of distinct issues that I may comment on in the future. Among them: The issue itself (Is it always sinful for a Christian to attend such a ceremony?); the implication of someone holding the opposite view (How do we relate to people who hold a different conviction?); and the way this whole conversation has taken place (Is there a McLuhan/Postman sense in which the medium is the message?). There is a lot to think about and I am praying the church is strengthened through it.

Many of my best memories are of events that happened one time or perhaps a few times. But my favorite of all is an event that happened day after day and year after year. 

Make Christ your music and your song; for complaining and feeling of want does often swallow up your praises. Borrow joy and comfort from the Comforter.
—Samuel Rutherford

May you know the Lord’s richest blessings as you send off one year and welcome in another.

For those who, like me, plan to read the Bible in 2023 using the 5-Day Reading Plan, it’s now available for free download.
There are a few new Kindle deals to look at today.
An Anchor for Our Tongues
This is a very interesting look at how we define words and why that sometimes doesn’t get us a whole lot closer to meaning. “Unfortunately, any given language is an imperfect witness to eternal truth. A language is limited in its perspective on reality. It ‘thinks’ in a certain way, and this affects how it describes things. This gives each language a unique perspective and voice, but that uniqueness also implies it’s missing a bunch of things that other languages notice.”
Deepening Your Friendship in Marriage
I appreciate this look at friendship in marriage from TGC India. “We had an arranged marriage, and we were in our twenties. We did not have the benefit of developing an understanding of who we were or what to expect. By God’s grace, it only took us three years to figure out what we were missing in the relationship. We were missing a friendship. No one told us the importance of friendship in marriage. So, we had to start over.”
Psalm 25 and the New Year
“The old British divine Matthew Henry refers to the practice of praying God’s Word back to God as ‘wrestling with God in his own strength.’ For this reason, I love to peruse the Bible for prayers to make my own. And one of my favorite passages to pray is Psalm 25.”
10 Tips for Faithful Student Ministry in the New Year
This list will be helpful for people who are involved in student ministry.
Start the Year Small: Wisdom for Setting New Goals
This article at DG offers “a well-marked yet seldom-traveled pathway to setting wise goals.”
5 Tips to Reinforce Your Bible Study and Prayer Routine
“No church leader wants to admit it, but for many of us it’s true: we still don’t have a sustainable habit for personal Bible study and prayer. Here are five ways forward—true for anyone, church leader or not.”

All our bad does not make us harder to save, and all our good does not make us easier to save. What saves us is Christ, and therefore all we contribute is honesty—admitting we are sinners and casting ourselves on him. —Dane Ortlund