Good morning. Grace and peace to you.
Today’s Kindle deals include some excellent books by Mark Dever. I especially recommend The Gospel and Personal Evangelism and What Is a Healthy Church?
Christmas as Crisis
Andrew Roycroft: “Something there is that loves a quiet Christmas. Christmas cards portray scenes of docility and tranquility, and our well-wishing carries adjectives that we do not normally use when greeting one another – ‘peaceful’ is the pinnacle of these.” But what if Christmas is not quiet?
How (Not) to Use AI: Three Principles
Jonathan Threlfall offers some helpful principles for using AI. “Generative AI is breathtaking in the scope of its abilities, but it is no different from any other technology in that its inventors cannot predict or control the benefits and consequences.”
What Gifts Would Wise Women Bring?
“Have you seen the funny comic depicting three wise women visiting Jesus with gifts of food, formula, and diapers?! I chuckled at the practicality of the wise women’s hypothetical gifts, but it also made me wonder what gifts we’re bringing our King in this day and age.”
5 Habits That Changed My Life
Ian Harber describes five of the habits that have made a huge difference in his life. “The habits I’m going to talk about are not, except for one, the typical spiritual disciplines you hear about in spiritual formation circles. These habits are simply practical things that I’ve started doing to be the kind of person who can bear life. But being able to bear life means having the capacity to love others, to be a person of love, and to obey the commandments of loving God and neighbor with heart, soul, mind, and strength. That’s the goal of these small habits.”
Why Such a Lowly Birth?
“What?! Did God plan this birth from before the world began, but forget to make reservations for Joseph and Mary at the hotel in Bethlehem? No, it was the purpose of God that from day one of Jesus’ life on earth he would be a suffering servant, a humble and helpless infant without a home.”
Beauty & Brokenness
Matthew Hosier: “Beauty and brokenness are the warp and weft of every life. No situation is so broken that a glimpse of beauty, like a blade of grass pushing through tarmac, can’t be seen. And even the most beautiful life will be shadowed by what is broken. This is the human condition.”
Flashback: On Following Mediocre Leaders
If we lead with mediocrity, yet still demand to be followed, how can we expect so much more of those who lead us? We must grant the grace we want others to extend to us.
At the end of life’s brief day we shall be rewarded, not according to the work we have done, but to the faithfulness with which we have endeavored to do our duty, in whatever sphere.
—F.B. Meyer
