The God of love and peace be with you.
Today’s Kindle deals include a few picks for pastors and a few for others. As usual, there’s lots to choose from.
(Yesterday on the blog: Dumb Will Do)
To Those Living in Secret Sin
If you are living in secret sin, please read what Esther Liu has written here. “From the title, you may assume I will tell you to bring your secret sin into the light, which is true. Yet, I know this invitation may sound trite and unappealing. If it were that easy, you would have done so already—but chances are it is more complicated for you.”
Inseparable
Olivia’s article is long but rewarding. She offers a biographical story of coming to a deeper understanding of God’s love and concern for those who are suffering. “I imagined my tears evaporating up to heaven. I wondered how many trucks full of tear bottles God had to reserve for me. Maybe he had to special order an extra large size or a whole fleet of those massive semis. ‘WIDE LOAD,’ they would say in a bright yellow banner while they drove down the heavenly highway.”
The Time Jesus Left the 99
This is another excellent biographical article. Vanessa Doughty tells how the Lord brought her back when she began to stray. “Satan will use anything to entice us away from our devotion to Christ. He can use even good things like family, friends, a career, an education, entertainment, and prosperity as tools to draw us farther from Jesus. For me, he used my desire for knowledge to lure me farther from Christ.”
The Spiritual Discipline of Remembrance
“Over and over, God commands his people to remember how hard, dark, sad, and ugly things were. And then, to celebrate the incredible contrast of his love, goodness, and might that rescued them from adversity of all kinds. The remembrance we’re called to isn’t a ‘focus on the positive’ outlook that skims past the hard and onto the happy ending. In order to truly understand the depths from which we have been saved, we have to admit how deep those depths were.”
Is No-Contact a Biblical Response to Toxic Relationships?
Daniel considers what appears to be a rise in people instituting a no-contact rule in response to difficult relationships.
Learning Relational Wisdom in Conflict Using James 3:17-18
Those who are experiencing relational conflict (or attempting to help others through it) will benefit from this one by Brad Hambrick.
Flashback: You’re Only Human
…what if your limits are not a bug but a feature of your humanity? What if these limitations are God’s gift and, therefore, good and worthy of embrace?
The church is not only where disciples go once a week; it’s where disciples are made.
—Michael Horton
