A La Carte (January 20)

Good morning. Grace and peace to you.

Today there are new Kindle deals on books from Kevin DeYoung, Ray Ortlund, and others.

Meanwhile, Westminster Books has pre-order deals on some of the books due to be published in the weeks ahead.

(Yesterday on the blog: You Just Can’t Have It All)

Job and the Deadly Spiritual Equation

Pierce Taylor Hibbs: “Job is one of my favorite books of the Bible. That usually catches people by surprise. Why would a book about a holy man falling prey to Satanic torment be something you want to read? Despite the initial fear the book induces, it’s extremely comforting and relevant for our understanding of trauma and suffering. Job shows that the worst still leads to the best. And of the many ways in which the book is still relevant, there’s one that stands out to me because of how prevalent it is in our times. It’s what I call ‘the deadly spiritual equation.’”

Did Jesus die for the sins of every person or only for the elect?

Here, courtesy of Ligonier Ministries, is a solid series of answers to a common question.

Humility Is the Main Ingredient of Prayer, Repentance, and Thanksgiving

Thomas Schreiner: “C.S. Lewis famously said, ‘If you don’t think you are conceited, you are very conceited indeed.’ Certainly that applies to humility: if you think you are humble, you are probably suffused with pride. In this article, we will consider briefly how prayer, repentance, and thanksgiving are related to humility.”

While You Were Sleeping

In this article, Madelyn Canada reminds us that God’s plans carry on, even when we can’t clearly see them.

Glue Sticks and Bible Songs

I enjoyed this little celebration of children and their teachers. “In his wisdom and grace, God gives us people, situations, and experiences that we often don’t recognize as priceless gifts at the time. Some of those gifts were given to me 20 years ago, and it’s only recently that I’ve begun to truly appreciate those busy days of teaching, corralling, discipling, and loving the lively and earnest little children that were entrusted to my care every Sunday morning.”

By Steps and Degrees

“Certain doctrines of Reformed theology, and their associated sub-doctrines, are brought into the limelight more than others. For example, there is a rich endowment of Protestant works on the doctrine of justification. One cannot say the same, however, of the sub-doctrine of ‘preparatory grace,’ which has not historically garnered much public attention within Protestant soteriology.” Here’s a short introduction to it.

Flashback: How to Make Accountability Work

Here are seven principles for effective accountability; each is further explained by showing what effective accountability is and is not.