Good morning. Grace and peace to you.
Because it’s a new month, there is a whole big list of Kindle deals to consider. There are some strong titles there!
Logos users will want to look at this month’s free and almost free books. Also, lots of great resources from Zondervan are on sale this month (which includes the excellent Zondervan Exegetical Commentary Collection).
(Yesterday on the blog: A Celebration of Friendship)

Barbara reflects on the reality that sometimes “you can do everything ‘right,’ so to speak, and end up with a life seemingly in shambles.”

“Remember, even in our sinfulness, when we fall, we shall rise. The Lord is our light in the darkest times, and His grace is sufficient to lift us up. Let this truth encourage and strengthen you in your walk with Christ.”

We have all heard a good number of negative or alarming assessments of AI. This one considers some of the tremendous benefits it may bring. There are some exciting possibilities!

“I raised four daughters. That is to say, together with my highly-committed and sensible wife, Trudi, I raised four daughters. I must admit, though, that sometimes it feels like they raised me. Nothing highlights one’s sinful tendencies more effectively than raising children. Every parent reading right now knows what I mean.”

It is good to occasionally revisit the matter of Bible translations to consider why we use the Bible we use.

“Are you numbered with the wheat, or are you grouped with the tares? Jesus warned that the church would contain both. Which are you?” Greg Koukl wants you to consider and helps you do so.

Their lives sounded pretty good. They sounded better than mine, if I was comparing…And for a moment I wanted it. I wanted it all.

A proverb is compact wisdom, knowledge in chunks, a library in a sentence, the electricity of many clouds discharged in one bolt, a river put through a mill-race.
—De Witt Talmage

It was an unconscionable crime—grossly immoral and terribly destructive. In the middle of the night, he snuck onto the property of one of his enemies and ruined his crop. Knowing that this man had recently sowed good seed throughout his fields, he stealthily followed behind and sowed seeds he knew would spring up into weeds, thorns, and brambles. Though he knew his crime would go undetected for a time, he knew also that soon enough the weeds would begin to grow up alongside the crops to overwhelm them and choke them out.
This morning your wife began her day by reading the Bible and a brief devotional to go with it. She spent a few minutes praying and seeking the Lord’s blessing for the day ahead. Good seeds were planted in her heart. But did you then emerge from bed in a grumbling mood and immediately begin expressing your displeasure at her or your discontentment with life in general? Did you interrupt her worship or steal her joy? In other words, did you follow behind and sow weeds among the wheat?
On Sunday, your friend heard a sermon that blessed and encouraged him. He listened attentively as the Word was being preached and he meditated on a few ways he could apply it to his life. Good seeds were planted within, seeds that would spring up to love and good deeds. But did you immediately suggest ways the sermon may have fallen short or express your view that the pastor may not have perfectly exposited the passage? Did you tempt him to doubt instead of trust and to complain instead of rejoice? Did you follow behind and plant weeds among the healthy growth?
Every day good seeds are being sown into the lives of the people around us, the people we love and are called to serve. And every day we are tempted to plant thorns among them, to sow weeds among the wheat and tares among the crops. We are tempted to add doubt to faith, discouragement to hope, evil thoughts to pure and holy desires. We are tempted to do the work of the devil instead of the work of the Lord.
We are in every moment influencing the people around us with our words and deeds, with our actions and attitudes. And in every moment and every situation our sacred calling is to promote good growth instead of poor growth, to scatter good seed rather than bad. It is to do all we can to foster the kind of growth that will spring up into a bountiful harvest of love, joy, grace, and peace. And for that reason, each one of us must be willing to ask ourselves: Am I in the habit of scattering bad seed?

Good morning from over the Atlantic as I make the long journey home. As always, it was great to meet so many wonderful people along the way. And, also as always, it will be great to be home.
Westminster Books has a deal on a new book for kids if that’s of interest.

Jake Meador expresses his concerns about the overuse of therapy.

This is a good reflection on the early verses of James 1. “This is not what we expect James to say. We expect him to say something like this: Count it all joy when God shows up in your life in miraculous ways. Count it all joy when life is clicking along just how you hoped it would. Count it all joy when heaven answers your prayers with a resounding ‘yes’.”

Carl Trueman covers the massive influence and tragic death of Shulamith Firestone.

John Piper is probably right when he says, “I think 95 percent of our listeners are not in this category of being a pastor (or almost a pastor) who would like help in finding a wife, but I’m betting 90 percent of them are not going to turn this off. They wonder, What is Pastor John going to say?”

“Much like this lone Sunflower, God is sowing something beautiful in you amidst the harshness and difficulties of your surroundings and circumstances. He may have planted you there, but he hasn’t abandoned you there. Instead of allowing you to remain hardened and lifeless, he has given you life in him, increasingly adorning you with his character, glory, and beauty in the least likely of places.”

Bob Kellemen covers two very different ways of reading people we disagree with.

Every church is in danger of disruption and disunity when Christian turns on Christian or Christian turns away from Christian…Here, for your consideration, are four sources of disunity that may just exist in your church.

Spiritual dryness is the result of spiritual indolence. Be active, and you will not be unfruitful.
—Charles Ebert Orr