May the Lord bless and keep you today.
The World Is Catechizing Us Whether We Realize It or Not
Kevin DeYoung: “It is worth remembering David Well’s famous definition: worldliness is whatever makes righteousness look strange and sin look normal. Here’s the reality facing every Christian in the West: the money, power, and prestige of the mainstream media, big time sports, big business, big tech, and almost all the institutions of education and entertainment are invested in making sin look normal.”
When it Feels Like Evil is Winning
“Some of us remember when the world’s suffering was relegated to one hour on the nightly news. We watched a sober-faced newscaster recount famines and wars and disasters in far-off places with sorrow in our hearts, and then we returned to a sink full of dishes or our algebra homework and the horror faded as the immediate pressed in.” But now, of course, we have the internet…
Don’t Numb Your Feelings
This is a timely word on feelings and emotions. “There is a danger to the subtle stoicism that some corners of Christendom are drawn toward. In this worldview, emotions are dangerous and hinder faith. This is false. Emotions are not our enemy. They’re a gift from God and purposed by him to be harnessed, not suppressed.”
How Can I Honor My Parents If I Don’t Respect Them?
I have known many who have had to ask the question John Piper takes on here.
Know Your Enemy — and Your Father
“Surrounded by enemies bent on our destruction, we need repeatedly to call to our Father God for help. Without him, we’d invariably go down to defeat. But when we humbly pray to him, he’ll hear and he’ll uphold and strengthen us by the power of his Holy Spirit.”
If Your Question Begins ‘how Much…’ It Is Probably The Wrong Question
Stephen Kneale: “Jesus calls the church the apple of his eye and his bride. There is no doubt that Jesus is saying, ‘I love you’. If we wouldn’t ask our wife, ‘and exactly how much affection, and how much evidence of me loving you, will suffice, y’know, to have done my duty?’ I’m not sure what makes any of us think that is an appropriate thing to say to the Lord.”
Want to Be an Elder? Start Eldering Now.
“Every elder is an elder before he is an elder. Every legitimate elder shows himself qualified in character and competence before being appointed to the office. This brief essay will focus on competence.” If you aren’t behaving like an elder, you shouldn’t expect to be made an elder!
Flashback: The Rise of Digital Technologies and the Decline of Reading
You can’t be surprised when bland books can’t hold their own against excellent videos or outstanding podcasts.
Can a man be at a fire and not be warm; or in the sunshine and not have light? Can your heart be in heaven, and not have comfort?
—Richard Baxter
