Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians! I trust you will enjoy a day of rest, relaxation, and, if you’re not opposed to staying up late, a fireworks show.
As you keep reading today, you will find some sales and deals, then some links to interesting articles, and then some headlines from Christian news outlets. Enjoy!
Sales & Deals
Today’s Kindle deals include some deals you’ll want to take a look at. They include a family devotion book by Marty Machowski, a brand new book by Erwin Lutzer and more.
Recommended Reading
Rugged Love and Your Prodigal. This is a helpful article from Dave Harvey. “Most of our wandering is routine, even predictable. We envy. We lust. We overeat. We nurse resentment. We grow impatient when life doesn’t unfold according to our plans. Then we confess, receive forgiveness, recalibrate, and move forward. This is ordinary sanctification. But there are times when ‘prone to wander’ takes a particularly obstinate and destructive turn.” (Also on the subject of prodigals, see: Mothers, Let Your Tears Water the Seeds Planted.)
You Don’t Want to Be Internet Famous. Aaron Armstrong: “Anyone can do it. Even you. Even me. And many people do. There are people that you’ve only ever heard of—literally the only reason—is because they play to the algorithm. Some have built massive online platforms, podcasts, and social followings. Others have mega-selling books. They got what they wanted. Or what they think they wanted. But here’s the problem…”
Step into the story of Scripture with the CSB Baker Illustrated Study Bible. Hundreds of full-color images, maps, and reconstructions help bring the world of the Bible to life, and robust study features from more than two hundred evangelical Christian scholars provide deep insights into God’s Word. Enter for your chance to win this visually immersive study Bible today. (Sponsored)
Conscience. Though I am not the primary audience for Paul Levy’s “Ministers’ Letters,” since they are written for his local church, I enjoy reading them nonetheless. “What is it that makes the difference between hearing God’s words, even listening to God’s words, and then responding to him in the way that we should? What is it that makes the difference between the days when we are actually arrested, grabbed by the word of God and have to change because of it, and the days when we treat God’s word like background noise that we can safely ignore?”
Why More Money Won’t Fix You. It is absolutely true, yet often hard to believe, that more money won’t fix you. As J.D. Greear explains, “there are two myths people often believe about generosity. They’re related, but not identical. Myth 1 is that only rich people can be generous. Myth 2 is that only rich people can be happy.”
Seven Laws of Technology & Gaming. Andrew Noble shares his seven laws of technology in this article, but then turns to a second subject and offers some really interesting thoughts about gaming. It’s all well worth reading. This seems like a key insight on modern games: “A real game has a challenge, a rule set, and a victory condition. A growing share of modern titles quietly drop that last one.”
When Grief Becomes Identity. “I had someone recently ask, ‘Do you think grief can become an idol?’ My gut reaction was, ‘Yes, of course!’ As Calvin stated, our hearts are idol factories. As I have chewed on this question over the last several days, I actually think the answer is much more layered. Long before grief becomes an idol, it first can become an identity.” Kirstin Black offers some really thought-provoking insights here.
News Headlines
The Christian Post reports on The Passion Translation of the Bible falling out of favor. “As scrutiny of The Passion Translation intensifies following a high-profile investigation promoted by apologist Mike Winger, a growing number of churches and Bible platforms are distancing themselves from the controversial paraphrase.”
In tragic news, Christian Today reports that in England and Wales, one in three pregnancies is now terminated. “Around 12% of conceptions among married women and those in civil partnerships resulted in abortion in 2022 in contrast to 37.9% among unmarried women. Only 2.3% of women who conceived outside of marriage got married before the birth of their child.”
Writing for WORLD, Patience Sunne shows how States are quietly redefining the family. While people’s attention is often directed toward the momentous headlines, “Subtle changes in state laws on parentage, assisted reproduction, and marriage have been redefining the family and undermining children’s rights to their own mother and father for decades.”
Flashback
You Don’t Really Know Who Your Friends Are Until… We don’t really know who Jesus’ friends are until a relationship with him becomes a liability instead of a benefit. We know that Jesus is proud to be the friend of sinners, and in the days to come, we will discover which sinners are truly proud to be friends with him.
If you felt yourself to be lovely, you could feel loved to a degree, but you could not be astonished with how loved you are. It’s precisely our messiness that makes Christ’s love so surprising, so startling, so arresting—and thereby so transforming.
—Dane Ortlund
