Skip to content ↓

A La Carte (April 1)

A La Carte Collection cover image

Good morning from Kitwe, Zambia. I’m here this week to speak at an event for writers. Prayers are appreciated!

There are hundreds and hundreds of great Kindle deals available today—commentaries, Bible resources, and much more. Intervarsity Press has put its entire catalog on sale for April. That includes some amazing series which I’ve cataloged here.

(Yesterday on the blog: Combat Anxiety Through Surrender)

What Jordan Peterson Gets Wrong About Happiness

John Piper evaluates Jordan Peterson’s perspective on happiness. “Jordan Peterson is negative about happiness as the aim of life because he defines happiness as fleeting, unpredictable, impulsive, and superficial rather than as deep, lasting, soul-satisfying, rooted in God, and expanding in love. He’s probably right that for most people, happiness is experienced as fleeting, superficial, unpredictable…”

Save Room for Church Coffee

I enjoyed Dan’s tribute to the humble cup of church coffee.

From Adolescence to Adolescents

Andrew Roycroft considers the show Adolescence and writes about it for the benefit of a younger audience. “Greetings from the world of Substack. I’m not sure how familiar you are with this platform, but I have a feeling that it might be the domain of people you view as outside of your age group. Thanks for venturing into this space, if so!”

Five Spiritual Disciplines that Will Help Your Marriage

Chap Bettis suggests “five different spiritual habits or rhythms that you can bring into your home that will bring blessing.”

A Knife At Her Throat

This is a true and encouraging story. “All four ladies were chatting pleasantly as they drove up to the intersection. Adaleen’s window was halfway down due to the hot temperatures outside. Out of nowhere the assailant’s hand reached in through the open window and pulled the keys out of the ignition, stalling the car. Shock gripped all the women.”

‘Love Is Blind’ Shows the Romantic Disaster of Misaligned Values

Brett McCracken considers Love Is Blind and how it is “fascinating as a reflection of our culture’s widening gender divide over politics and as a strong warning against ‘unequally yoked’ dating when key values and spiritual convictions diverge.”

Flashback: Why Do You Do What You Do (And Not Something Else)?

As I listen and ask follow-up questions, I learn—I learn to appreciate what I have often never considered before and even what doesn’t especially enthuse me. God is good to give human beings skills and passions and good to allow us to express them in our vocations. 

A profession of faith doesn’t justify anybody. It’s the possession of faith that justifies.

—R.C. Sproul

  • Works & Wonders June 14

    Works & Wonders: Bowing the knee or shaking the fist, 39 years to translate the Bible, And Can It Be, How to understand a trillIon, Landsat images, and World Cup covers.

  • Weekend A La Carte (June 13)

    Egg freezing is a booming business / Talk to the A.I. me / Is aging becoming optional? / Feminism and the Fall / The lie of living your truth / Moving on from the Christian Nationalism moment / and more.

  • An Ideal Resource For Your Family Devotions

    An Ideal Resource For Your Family Devotions

    There is a lot I miss from the days when our children were young. High on the list is family devotions. Nick once described our family as having a “Spartan-like commitment” to them, though I remember as much failure as success and as many misses as hits. Still, there’s no doubt that over the 26…

  • A La Carte (June 12)

    The curious case of extra resurrections / Are kids too expensive? / Why hot takes are the enemy of conviction / Piper on preaching outrage / A daily rhythm of prayer / Forgetting and pursuing / A La Quiz / The funnies / and more.

  • A La Carte (June 11)

    We lost the baby / The Bible is cessationist (and wondrous!) / Thinking about Eastern Orthodoxy: a primer for evangelicals / Virtue signalling in the church / What is God’s providence? / Restlessness / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Conform

    You Can Conform to Christ Even if You Don’t Conform to Me

    One of the aspects of the Christian faith that I find particularly perplexing is the freedom God gives his people to obey him in different or even opposite ways, so that one person’s obedience is another person’s disobedience. Even as two people take the same action, one might be obeying him and the other disobeying…