The God of love and peace be with you today.
There continue to be at least a few Kindle deals pretty well every day.
(Yesterday on the blog: On Being a Heroic Man)
Consider Leveraging Your Education for the Sake of the Nations
Rachel Ware puts out the call for students to consider getting an education overseas for the sake of the nations. She offers six reasons to pursue a degree while helping a healthy church in a foreign country.
Ban Porn Now
This author makes a compelling argument. “Ubiquitous pornography does not simply lead to privatized vice, but also destabilizes human culture and civilization to such a degree that the state should seek to degrade and destroy it as a menace to society. Such a proposal will likely find opponents among libertarian republicans and centrist liberals for whom individual autonomy is the highest political good. But opposition to pornography should command overwhelming support from religious conservatives on the right and opponents of misogyny from the most progressive portions of the left.”
Tolkien’s Treebeard and the Root Problem of Hastiness
Nicholas Lewis draws some lessons from Tolkien’s world and applies them to our own.
Unpacking “New Year, New Me”
Jen Oshman analyzes a popular contemporary axiom: “new year, new me.”
The New Year and the Paralyzing Nature of Fear
This article asks an important question based on a biblical parable: “Do you view God as a hard man? I know that I am tempted in this way. Especially in times of trial, it is easy to acknowledge God’s sovereignty, but what about his goodness? Does he truly have my good in view? Does He love me?”
A Compass For Our Changing World
“Whatever changes await us in the year ahead, there is one solid foundation we can stand on that never moves: ‘I the LORD do not change.’ He won’t go back on his promises. He won’t revoke his offer of salvation, or quietly update his terms of service. He won’t adjust his commands to suit the sensibilities of the masses, and then adjust them again when the masses change their minds.”
Flashback: Before You Read Another Book on Marriage
Books on marriage can be wonderful, and I have benefitted from reading many of them. But the best and most helpful books on marriage are the ones being lived out by husbands and wives in your family, in your neighborhood, and especially in your church. Read them longer and more thoroughly than any other.
…if you want to be much less of a follower of Jesus Christ five years from now, make church marginal in your life. If you make church an afterthought, you won’t be thinking about centering your life on Jesus five years from now.
—Kevin DeYoung
