The God of peace be with you today.
Did you know Sinclair Ferguson has a new daily devotional out? Westminster Books has it at 40% off. They’ve got some other devotionals discounted as well.
Today’s Kindle deals include a variety of interesting titles, many of them general market rather than Christian. Remember that I’ve got an X account at @challiesdeals that shares some of them each day.
Why I Am Not Catholic
Carl Trueman spends a fair bit of time with Roman Catholics and was recently asked why he isn’t Catholic. He answers at First Things (which, of course, is a Catholic publication). “Confessional, orthodox Protestants should take no satisfaction in Rome’s increasing resemblance to the old enemy of liberal Protestantism. Rome still has the money and institutional weight to make a difference in these great struggles over what it means to be human. If Rome equivocates and falls on these issues, the world will become colder and harsher for all of us. To quote Elrond, our list of allies grows thin. And Pope Francis is not reversing that process.”
Mastering Your Self Is Harder Than Mastering the World
Ain’t this the truth! “To conquer a city you need a well-trained army, a thorough knowledge of its weak spots, strategy, patience, and perseverance through losses. It takes grit. The Bible tells us that as hard as that is, ruling your spirit is even harder.”
The Reformation Moment Is Our Moment
Even though our cultural moment might feel uniquely complex and chaotic, history is full of examples of similarly uncertain and tumultuous eras, as Amy Mantravadi proves here.
Is Living Together Before Marriage Really a Sin?
“It’s conventional wisdom today that a key step between dating and marriage is for a young man and woman to ‘test-drive’ their relationship by living together, sharing the same house and almost always the same bed. According to a recent Barna poll, 65 percent of American adults believe cohabitation is a good idea. Even many evangelicals are ambivalent about living together and having sex before marriage…”
And Then There Was You
You’ll enjoy this grandmother’s celebration of the news that there will soon be another grandchild.
What if We Let the Bible Form Us in 2025?
Now here’s a good idea: Let’s ensure that whatever else we do in 2025, we deliberately allow the Bible to form us.
Flashback: When God Goes Big And I Go Small
When God goes big, my first tendency is to go small. When God speaks universally, my first thought is to look for exceptions, for the nuances that allow me to wiggle out from under his commands.
Is not he a fool that will believe a temptation before a promise?
—Thomas Watson
