A La Carte (June 3)

Sales & Deals

Today’s Kindle deals include some books that deal with tough issues, but apply the gospel to them. You’ll also find books by Costi Hinn and J. Warner Wallace.

Amazon has put a whole list of Christian books on sale in their print editions. I thought I’d add them to my Amazon storefront so you can browse them there. You’ll find books by Grudem, Ortlund, Ramsey, Mounce, and others.

Recommended Reading

Ben Sasse’s Theology of Suffering for a Death-Phobic Culture. This writer says that Ben Sasse’s public witness through cancer “is a stinging indictment of the American church’s long abandonment of a theology of suffering. For decades, too many pulpits have exchanged the biblical mandate to ‘take up your cross daily’ (Luke 9:23) for therapeutic self-help, prosperity-adjacent platitudes, and a gospel that sounds suspiciously like self-actualization. We have rarely taught believers how to suffer faithfully like Job, how to die with hope like Stephen, or how to view affliction as an expected vocation.”

You Don’t Need Testosterone Therapy. Writing for Christianity Today, Matthew Loftus expresses concern about the rise of testosterone therapy. “Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) is getting trendier—more and more men are using it, sometimes without even checking their testosterone levels. Others are getting their testosterone levels checked for vague, nonspecific symptoms like just feeling ‘off,’ while some are giving themselves testosterone despite having normal blood levels. What does this tell us about our bodies and our lives?”

While I Was Busy Helping Save the Free World. Patrick Luscri writes with honesty and transparency in this article. “Real heroes wield real weapons and do real battle, not virtual ones controlled by thumbs. Heroes carry children to safety and keep them safe. They pay attention to their families, not to their phones or computers. The (not so) funny thing is that I wanted to be a hero. In my fake virtual world, I fought evil. In the real one, I failed my wife. It’s a weird dichotomy—nobility and nobody-ness. There are no bodies in video games, just nobodies. No beautiful trees, suns, voices, people, places or reality. It’s just make-believe.”

The Discipline of Joy. Kirsten Black helpfully explains what true joy is and is not. “Joy is not a formula. It’s not a solution to make things feel okay. It’s not a system to make sorrow lift or grief abate. Joy is the discipline of pointing my gaze toward the promises of God, even in the midst of the sorrows of life. It’s hopeful lament married to faith in Christ. It’s giving thanks for the good, even as what has been lost is mourned. It’s a battle of believing God’s word is true, even when sadness tells a different story. It’s a deep and abiding trust in the character of God, not because of my circumstances, but often despite them.”

Stop Believing Your Best Years Are Behind You. One of the paradoxes of the Christian life is that “while our bodies inevitably weaken, something else can be happening: a deep, daily spiritual renewal that far outweighs what we’re losing physically.” Darryl Dash calls Christians to embrace this fact and not assume that, even as their bodies weaken, their best days are behind them.

We Are Not Alone? No, We Never Were. Bethel McGrew always has interesting things to say, like in this article about aliens and UFOs. She focuses on the reality that for many people, proving the existence of aliens would disprove the existence of God. “Spielberg has teased a scene in the new film where a character tells us she was ‘raised to believe in a Supreme Being’ and is now awed at the prospect of seeing ‘actual supreme beings.’ ‘The world can’t handle both,’ she asserts.”

In the News

Medical evacuation. It was a joy to read about Dominic Villeneuve in one of Canada’s national newspapers, the National Post. Villeneuve is a Canadian pilot who flies for Mission Aviation Fellowship and was tasked with evacuating the family of the missionary doctor who recently tested positive for Ebola.

The SBC. An article at WORLD provides a preview of the forthcoming SBC meetings. Though you may not be Southern Baptist, the organization is so huge and powerful that you’re likely to be affected by its decisions and emphases in one way or another!

MAID and mental illness. In the Vancouver Sun, Jonathan Lai, director of Autism Alliance of Canada, explains why Canada and other nations must not allow euthanasia for those whose sole underlying condition is mental illness.

Flashback

How Can You Mumble? Do you consider that sometimes singing is the most important way you will serve others during any given worship service? This is true whether you’re one of the musicians at the front or one of the members in the pews. God has designed singing to function in this way, to be one of the many “one another” ministries.