Good morning! May the Lord be with you and bless you today.
The current deal at Westminster Books is a good one: significant discounts on some of their favorite systematic theologies.
(Yesterday on the blog: Great Occasions For Serving God)
How Letters Mingle Souls
I enjoyed Christine Farenhorst’s explanation of how letters mingle souls (in a way emails and text messages do not).
10 Brief Reflections on an Elder’s Character
These reflections on the character of an elder are brief but helpful.
This Is How He Carries You
Lauren Washer: “It’s too much, Lord. I can’t count the number of times I’ve uttered some form of these words. Sometimes I whisper through my tears and other times I scribble furiously onto the pages of my journal—early morning thoughts after news of another hardship. Another friend’s suffering. My own difficult circumstances. A world in physical, emotional, and spiritual upheaval.”
From Sunrise to Sunset, And Everything In-Between
Amber Thiessen reflects on some of the more difficult parts of her journey: “Our journey of life will take us through rough patches, to say the least. We’ve persevered through the beginnings of a pandemic. We’ve experienced pain and hardship in relationships, finances, and illness. We know that in this world we will have troubles.”
Seek a Broken Heart for Sin
“We may achieve much in this world without a broken heart; we may even seem to achieve much in the Christian life without a broken heart. But we cannot commune deeply and sweetly with Christ, for he enters only through the cracks of a broken heart.”
A Proper Christian Response to Sexual Sin in Our Culture
Carl Trueman: “You only have to look at the history of society to know that sexual desire is often one of the most powerful, powerfully creative, and powerfully catastrophic forces within human history. So I would say to any Christian: you need to remain shocked by this. Do not allow the normalization of pornography, the normalization of wickedness to dull your senses to the outrageous horror of what is being perpetrated.”
An American Presbyterian Missionary Martyr In Persia
Here’s an account of a little-known missionary martyr. “On March 9, 1904, tragedy struck the Presbyterian Mission to Persia (Persia is now known as Iran). Rev. Benjamin Woods Labaree and his servant Israel were killed by a band of Kurds near Urmia.”
Flashback: Do I Really Need To Suffer?
God does not need suffering in order to bring us to maturity. He needs only his Word and Spirit which speak powerfully in both light and darkness.
Our loyalty to Christ is to be the world’s salvation. The moment we betray him—we betray them and empty ourselves of all reforming and regenerating power.
—Theodore Cuyler
