A La Carte (February 13)

May the Lord be with you and bless you today.

(Yesterday on the blog: Who’s Afraid of the Teenage Years?)

Why Pastors Should Get a Family Wage

I have been intrigued by Rhys Laverty’s writing on providing a pastor a “family wage.” I continue to think through whether or not I agree with him (and perhaps especially so in a location as expensive as Toronto). But am glad to have the opportunity to ponder it.

Is Satan Bound? Or Is He the Ruler of This World? (Video)

Is Satan bound or is Satan the ruler of this world? It’s a great question and Derek Thomas, W. Robert Godfrey, and Sinclair Ferguson all answer in slightly different ways in this video from Ligonier.

A Match (Un)Made in Heaven

“I think about heaven a lot. When I’m sad because I’m watching a loved one’s body break down, or because human impact on the environment brings destruction and death, I look to what I know about heaven. In heaven, we will be given new bodies and will inhabit a new earth. One thing will not be made new? Our marriages. The cliché is, ‘it’s a match made in heaven.’ However, in reality, every match made on earth will be unmade in heaven.”

She Will Be Saved Through Childbearing

There are few passages more difficult than “she will be saved through childbearing.” Mitch Chase takes it on here and offers a good interpretation. “Peter once wrote that there are ‘some things’ in Paul’s letters “that are hard to understand” (2 Pet. 3:16), and 1 Timothy 2:15 would surely be among ‘some things.’ Paul’s words in 1 Timothy 2:15 comprise one of the most difficult verses in the whole New Testament.” Indeed.

Christians Are Not Ready for the Age of “Adult AI”

Samuel James explains why many common arguments against using pornography may not help much as the industry inevitably migrates to the heavy use of AI. (I still think those arguments are good and important, but he’s right that they will need to change alongside the technology.)

Gratitude

“Expressing gratitude is a joy-producing practice. As Christians, we can start by acknowledging that everything we have and are, from each breath we take to our salvation in Christ and every blessing in between, big or small, are gifts from our gracious heavenly Father (Ephesians 1:3). Then, we can be intentional about recognizing the good gifts others give us, both the material and relational, tangible and intangible.”

Flashback: Why Modern Dating Is So Difficult

Paul Grimmond…lays out seven features of our modern Western context that impact dating in profound ways.