A La Carte (April 30)

May the Lord be with you and bless you today.

In case you missed it, yesterday I shared a collection of April’s new and notable books and a quick look ahead to May’s scheduled releases.

Sales & Deals

Today’s Kindle deals include several solid options from The Good Book Company.

Recommended Reading

Complementarianism and the Dignity of Women. Nadya Williams explains how focusing all of complementarianism on whether or not women can be pastors can lead to neglecting other implications of the doctrine. “There are many more important matters to consider in daily life at home, at church, and in society. After all, only a tiny fraction of church members (whether in complementarian or egalitarian churches) serve in pastoral roles in their respective churches. What important questions should we be thinking about instead?”

Does Satan Know Our Thoughts? A lot of people wonder whether Satan has access to our thoughts. This article from Beautiful Christian Life answers the question well. “When intrusive thoughts fill our minds, when temptations confront us in moments of weakness, or when spiritual struggles feel extremely personal and targeted, it can seem as though the devil somehow knows what we are thinking. Scripture, however, gives us no reason to believe this is the case.”

From Friend to Friend. “We sometimes imagine the spread of Christianity in broad historical strokes, councils, creeds, empires, persecutions, missionaries boarding ships, preachers in pulpits, reformers with books, martyrs with flames around them, and all of that is true and glorious in its place. Indeed we love to hear these stories.” Yet that’s not how the gospel most often moves from person to person, is it?

5 Things We Lose When We Subtract Evangelism From the Christian Life. Sharonda Cooper: “If we’re ever to overcome our fear of evangelism, not only must we love others more than ourselves, but we must also believe that evangelism’s benefits outweigh any risks involved. But what are the benefits associated with sharing the gospel? Rather, what might we lose if we subtract evangelism from our lives? Here are five things to consider.”

What Happened on the Threshing Floor? I expect we have all heard people speculate that something inappropriate happened between Ruth and Boaz on that threshing floor. Yet that would go completely against the point of the book. “The book of Ruth is carefully crafted to celebrate the conversion of a Moabite into the covenant people of God. In God’s plan, her offspring is the King who will restore the cosmos. Let’s consider how, at the threshing floor, Boaz and Ruth reject Moabite promiscuity and inhospitality and embrace covenant faithfulness and lavish generosity.”

Becoming an Interesting Person. Seth was challenged with becoming an especially interesting person, but as he outlines here, it is far better to become a very interested person.

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ECPA Christian Book Awards

Yesterday the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association announced the winners of their annual book awards, which are widely considered the most significant awards Christian books can receive. A few noteworthy recipients were Alistair Begg’s God of the Ordinary, Karen Swallow Prior’s You Have a Calling, and Clare Morell’s The Tech Exit. You can find the complete list here.

Currently

• Enjoying. I have been deliberately exploring some non-conventional tools, and that led me to Kagi Search. So far I am enjoying it and especially appreciate it’s not-Googleness. There is a fee for using it, but the same is true for Google—it’s just that Kagi costs money while Google costs privacy and data.
• Resenting. Yesterday I was scheduled to pick up a rental car from Hertz, but got the classic message: “Though you may have reserved a car, we are in no way responsible to make sure we actually have a car for you. How could you have been so silly as to think otherwise?” A reservation, the rep told me very soberly, should only ever be taken to mean that you’ll be higher on the list if they actually do happen to have a car present. Sigh.
• Reading. His Father’s Son by Tim Brady. Ted Roosevelt Jr. has to be one of the most interesting figures of the 20th century, though he tends to be overshadowed by other people who bear his surname. He was the son of a president, a Governor General of the Philippines, a brigadier general, the oldest man to storm the beaches on D-Day, a constant quoter of Pilgrim’s Progress, and a posthumous recipient of the Medal of Honor. Despite all of this, he is the subject of only a couple of biographies. I have been eager to learn more about him and his exploits.

Flashback

Protect Your Church in One Simple Step. As God’s people living in that age of itching ears, we must remain confident in and committed to nothing less than the faithful, week by week preaching of God’s precious Word.