Good morning. May the Lord be with you and bless you today. Remember that tomorrow I’ll have a collection of think pieces and long-form content for you, while on Sunday I’ve have a brief collection of delightful things that are just right for a Sunday morning. See you then!
Sales & Deals
Today’s Kindle deals include several titles from Christian Focus, a lesser-known work from Jerry Bridges, and more.
Logos users will want to check out this month’s big commentary sale. You can also grab your free book of the month, plus the discounted ones beneath it. When you’ve worked your way through those, consider browsing through the monthly deals.
Recommended Reading
Cultural Enemies. James Emery White says, “Don’t worry about having enemies. Instead, concern yourself with having the right ones and for the right reasons. Don’t have enemies because you are intentionally offensive in spirit and in relational dynamics. Don’t have enemies because you are caustic and abrasive. Don’t have enemies because you are unfeeling and unloving. But… Do have enemies because you stand for truth. Do have enemies because you will not waver in the face of majority opinion when it clashes with biblical authority. Do have enemies when you will not personally compromise your convictions.”
Netflix ‘Little House on the Prairie’ Celebrates Family on the Frontier. Writing for TGC, Brett McCracken mostly praises the new Little House on the Prairie series on Netflix. Though he was somewhat skeptical, he says this: “I watched all eight episodes of the Netflix series’s first season, which adapts the third book of Wilder’s semiautobiographical series. I mostly liked the show, which has already been renewed for a second season. Produced by CBS Studios and helmed by showrunner Rebecca Sonnenshine, this new Little House is well-made, well-acted, wholesome family entertainment—and generally faithful to the source material.”
A Life and Death Struggle. This is a very moving article from Dorcas Denness. “Zainab found a place on the crowded benches and listened while I gave the morning Bible devotion. At the end, I invited the women to join me in lifting our hands in prayer to ask God for mercy and heal our bodies, minds and souls. Afterwards, she sought me out in the bookroom. Sitting down, she shared about being five months pregnant and having several other children. Three times she tried to abort this baby—each time failing. Twisting her hands, she relayed how she now wanted to love this child, but feared the damage her abortion attempts had caused, and the punishment Allah would assign her.”
A Christian Response to Hookup Culture. Paul Schlehlein writes about hookup culture and cohabitation from an African perspective, but most of what he says applies equally to the West, where it sometimes seems like no one gets married anymore. At least, they don’t get married until they’ve lived together for years or decades. “In this post I would like to give three reasons why cohabitation destroys a nation, a few common scenarios, and then close with some words of counsel and encouragement.”
In the Arms of an Other. This is a warning that everyone needs to consider and heed. “Adultery wants to sneak up on you. It might already be sliding into your life. With so much internet immorality bombarding us, I could write endless warnings against dating apps, pornography, and the rising tide of filth normalized on Reels and Shorts. Stay vigilant there. But along with online vigilance, I want you to watch your life carefully in another way.”
Our Accommodating God. Cody Watson considers many of the ways in which God has so carefully accommodated us in our weaknesses and asks churches to do the same, especially as it pertains to those with special needs. “In his gifts to the people of God, he not only gave the Word of God, he accommodated his revelation into multiple styles, writing in narrative and poetry to enable oral storytelling and easy memorization and repetition for the non-literate.”
Funnies
My friend Chris Martin maintains a Substack called The Funnies, and every Saturday he shares a few fun and silly things he found on the Internet—something I see as a modern equivalent to the comics pages that used to be in every newspaper. I asked him to share a couple with you, and I found both of them quite relatable.
Small print: The inclusion of someone’s “funny” here is neither an endorsement of that person nor a recommendation that you follow them on social media. Just laugh or roll your eyes and then move on.
Flashback
When You Don’t Like Your Wife, Love Your Wife. The one sure way to fall out of love with your wife is to stop loving her—to stop doing deeds of love and speaking words of love and otherwise displaying a heart of love. Love is like a muscle that atrophies with disuse and that strengthens with exercise.
Satan makes his chief conquests over men who either have nothing to do, or, if they have, refuse to do it.
—De Witt Talmage
