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A La Carte (July 8)

wednesday

Just a reminder that I am taking this week off, so will not be updating the Kindle deals too often (though there are a few there now).

Four Reflections on Sin

Writing for TGC Canada, George Sinclair offers four reflections on sin.

Do I Need to Understand the Trinity to Be Saved?

I have seen a few variations on this question over the years, but especially appreciated this treatment from John Piper.

30 Years Ago, Romania Deprived Thousands of Babies of Human Contact

This longform article from The Atlantic is worth the read. “For his first three years of life, Izidor lived at the hospital. The dark-eyed, black-haired boy, born June 20, 1980, had been abandoned when he was a few weeks old. The reason was obvious to anyone who bothered to look: His right leg was a bit deformed. After a bout of illness (probably polio), he had been tossed into a sea of abandoned infants in the Socialist Republic of Romania.”

Theological Triage in the 21st Century

Trevin Wax: “These controversies raise an important question: What constitutes false teaching? How do we know the difference between areas in which we may ‘agree to disagree’ or areas where the compromise is so dangerous as to obscure the gospel? What do we do when doctrine divides people who love Jesus, believe the Bible, and agree on the fundamentals of the faith?” He looks to a couple of recent books to find some suggestions.

How To Keep Glasses From FOGGING While Wearing A Face Mask (Video)

If you wear glasses and find yourself wearing a mask, you’ve run into that annoying fogging thing. This guy tried all the solutions and found that unfortunately only the clunkiest ones actually work.

The Danger of an Open Bible

Sometimes an open Bible is a bigger danger than a dusty one. “Just because 100 million Bibles are being sold each year doesn’t mean 100 million people are reading it. And just because someone’s reading it doesn’t mean they’re reading it correctly. In fact, while keeping your Bible closed is a really bad idea, we should also admit that few things are more dangerous than an open Bible. History and Scripture tell us the Bible has been used to do more damage than any other weapon Satan uses.”

A Social Media Jekyll & Hyde Effect

“It usually happens when the topic is something controversial – like politics during an election year. You see people writing things in Tweets and Facebook posts, and in comments about such posts, that they would never say to the face of another living human being. Your kindly little hymn-singing great-grandmother suddenly turns into a foul-mouthed, cruel, and vindictive Mr. Hyde – right before your eyes. And you think to yourself, ‘Granny?’”

Flashback: Envy Always Wins

What’s the cure for envy? I can’t say it better than Charles Spurgeon: “The cure for envy lies in living under a constant sense of the divine presence, worshiping God and communing with Him all the day long, however long the day may seem…The more of heaven there is in our lives, the less of earth we shall covet. The fear of God casts out envy of men.”

Assurance is not to be obtained so much by self-examination as by action.

—Jonathan Edwards

  • The Phrase that Altered My Thinking Forever

    This week the blog is sponsored by P&R Publishing and is written by Ralph Cunnington. Years ago, I stumbled repeatedly on an ancient phrase that altered my thinking forever.  Distinct yet inseparable. The first time I encountered this phrase was while studying the Council of Chalcedon’s description of the two natures of Christ. Soon after,…

  • Always Look for the Light

    Always Look for the Light

    For many years there was a little potted plant on our kitchen window sill, though I’ve long since forgotten the variety. Year after year that plant would put out a shoot and from the shoot would emerge a single flower. And I observed that no matter how I turned the pot, the flower would respond.…

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    A La Carte (March 18)

    A La Carte: God is good and does good—even in our pain / Dear bride and groom / Sin won’t comfort you / Worthy of the gospel / From self-sufficiency to trusting God’s people / The gods fight for our devotion / and more.

  • Confidence

    God Takes Us Into His Confidence

    Here is another Sunday devotional—a brief thought to orient your heart toward the Lord. God takes the initiative in establishing relationship by reaching out to helpless humanity. He reveals himself to the creatures he has made. But what does it mean for him to provide such revelation of himself? John Calvin began his Institutes by…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (March 16)

    A La Carte: I believe in the death of Julius Caesar and the resurrection of Jesus Christ / Reasons students and pastors shouldn’t use ChatGPT / A 1.3 gigpixel photo of a supernova / What two raw vegans taught me about sharing Jesus / If we realize we’re undeserving, suddenly the world comes alive /…

  • Ask Pastor John

    Ask Pastor John

    I admit it: I felt a little skeptical about Ask Pastor John. To be fair, I feel skeptical about most books that begin in one medium before making the leap to another. Books based on sermons, for example, can often be pretty disappointing—a powerful sermon at a conference can make a bland chapter in a…