The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you today.
Today’s Kindle deals include one of the excellent “God’s Word for You” volumes and an accompanying study. You’ll also find Matt Perman’s How To Get Unstuck and several other books as well.
(Yesterday on the blog: Robert Wolgemuth Was a Kind Man)
Suffering as Spiritual Formation
It is so important to understand that suffering is a form of spiritual formation. “Suffering is one of the most transformative realities in human existence, and yet it is often marginal in the literature on spiritual formation. Perhaps that is because it cannot be scheduled, controlled, or optimized. It resists technique. It comes to us unbidden. And yet, again and again, Scripture and Christian experience testify that suffering is among the primary means by which God deepens, clarifies, and reforms his people.”
Save the Humanities From the Slop
“People who argue against the humanities assume we aren’t losing something profound by not engaging with literature. With the help of AI, YouTube, TikTok, or Wikipedia summaries, you can receive all the benefits of the humanities more efficiently, without the effort of learning a language or reading a book that thousands of others have read. But the experience of doing the reading and processing the words is part of the wisdom you gain from reading.”
Dying to Give
This is quite similar to an article I have often considered writing. It explains why parents should consider giving their children an inheritance sooner rather than later—something that is especially true as people live longer so that they may be leaving their children an inheritance when their kids are already senior citizens. (An alternate idea: Skip generations by having grandparents leave money to grandchildren rather than having parents leave money to children.)
In Missions, These Things Combined Mean Someone Is Getting Played
“Yesterday, I saw a claim made by an American pastor-missionary-trainer that he was heading to a nearby country to do some training with leaders from our region. Among other things, he said that one of the ‘streams’ this network of leaders represents has 100 churches in one of our sister unreached people groups. … 100 churches! Amazing, right? The Spirit must really be on the move in this part of the world!” If only it was that easy.
Preparing the Heart for Prayer
Zachary Groff: “It has frequently been observed that nothing is more intimate and expressive of our relationship with God in Christ than prayer. But how much conscious thought do we give to how to pray rightly, or how to pray in the right frame of heart and mind?”
Using My Gifts or Burning Out?
Susan addresses whether we say “yes” to opportunities because that is how we can express our giftedness or whether we do so for other less noble reasons.
Flashback: When You’re at Your Best, Plan for Your Worst
There is a kind of weakness, a kind of vulnerability, that may come when we are convinced of our strength. It is when we are not being tempted, it is when we are standing strong in the Lord’s grace, that we ought to consider the times we will be weak and tempted and eager to sin.
God’s love in John 3:16 is not amazing because the world is so big, but because the world is so bad.
—D.A. Carson
