May the Lord be with you and bless you today.
Today’s Kindle deals include The Gospel at Work, Gospel-Driven Ministry, a title about depression, and one about interruptions.
The Worry Rolodex
Erin describes her “worry Rolodex” and how she is learning to do something better than constantly fret. “I wake up to a familiar feeling in my gut. Not hunger—though I feel that too— but fear. It’s a rolling, unsettling sensation, a feeling that my stomach is being flipped inside out.”
The God We Love (Video)
Here’s a nice new song from CityAlight—a rendition of the Nicene Creed featuring Matt Redman.
The False Hope of ‘Rebrand Yourself!’ Identity Shifts
“A growing subgenre of YouTube influencers and videos promises quick, easy hacks for reinventing yourself and becoming a ‘new you.’” Brett McCracken describes this phenomenon and what it says about modern notions of identity.
Change Inexorable
Loren G. Warnemuende tells about some of the changes in her life and her struggles with them. “God is outside of time; he is outside of my timeline that is only change—it’s impossible for me to live, to even move, without change occurring. But God doesn’t change. He is the constant in my ever-shifting world, and really, when it comes down to it, the only reason I can accept change is because I know that he abides with me in the midst of it.”
The Quiet Work of God
“There was a season when my spiritual life felt suspended between routine and emptiness. I read my Bible faithfully, yet the words felt flat; I prayed, but my voice seemed swallowed by silence. The rhythms of grace remained, yet the fire of transformation felt distant. Nothing was broken, and yet it seemed as if nothing was growing.”
Glorifying God in 1,000 Decisions a Day
John Piper: “Turn left; turn right. Smile; don’t smile. Speak; don’t speak. Take a second helping, or don’t. Thousands of these situations all day long. Now, that is a really serious question. The implications of how you answer that are huge. God intends for Jesus to be the Lord of every Christian, and 999 times out of 1,000 every day, he does not give special revelation for how to do his will. Why not?”
Flashback: When God’s Blessings Flow
It is God’s good pleasure to answer our prayers and to grant his blessings not just to us, but also to others. And who but God can know what blessings they hold, what pleasures they enjoy, that flow from your prayers and mine.
Hell is filled with people thinking: “I deserve to be in heaven.” And raging. Heaven is filled with people thinking: “I deserve to be in hell.” And dancing.
—Dane Ortlund
