A La Carte (June 4)

Sales & Deals

Today’s Kindle deals include several books that ask and answer good questions. You’ll also find the excellent A Heart Aflame for God. It’s not as heavily discounted as some, but it is still significantly discounted from its normal price.

Westminster Books has a great deal on a new-old set of books from John Frame. I only just received my copies, and I’m looking forward to looking through them. Don’t forget that they’ve also got my new book, God’s Great Big Global Church, on sale for the rest of the week as well.

Recommended Reading

The Pastor as Anti-Professional. I appreciate what Michael Krahn does here as he distinguishes between “professional” and “polished.” “I long for the praise and validation that issues from a well-delivered talk. I desire to be counted as an equal among those who perform duties similar to mine. I aim to meet the standard—good at all the things I am supposed to be good at, master of my domain, doing what everyone else does… but better. In other words: a ‘real professional.’ But this is unnecessary, and what’s more, it is a hazard.”

Not Mere Memories: God’s Sovereign Purposes in Every Season. Debbie Duarte recounts an especially difficult season in the life of her church and tells of her trust in the Lord through it all. “The past is just as real as the present is and the future will be. And it had great purposes. The relationships we have had with people who have moved away or passed away, the experiences we have had, the tinier versions of our children we used to know with different interests and chubbier fingers- these things transcend far beyond memories. They have shaped us. Grown us. Conformed us into the image of the Son. No. Not just memories. They are the very people and circumstances, in that season, that God has chosen to use for my good. And your good. And the glory of God above all else.” (Another good read on a similar subject is Jacob Crouch on The Things I Cried About Yesterday.)

Bargatze’s ‘Breadwinner’ Should Be Funnier. Nate Bargatze has a new movie out, and Brett McCracken thinks it should be funnier than it actually is. “The problem with The Breadwinner is that it doesn’t feel like an especially ‘different angle’ but more like repackaged tropes about bumbling dads and swapped gender roles.”

God’s Mercy in Withholding Wealth. Casey McCall writes about wealth and says, “in eternal perspective, the Christian relationship to wealth is paradoxical. If you pursue it as your ultimate aim in life, you end up eternally poor. However, if you pursue Christ as your greatest treasure in life, you end up eternally wealthy. Pursue wealth, get poverty. Pursue Christ, get more wealth than you could ever imagine—eventually.”

On Grieving When Your Loved One’s Faith Was Ambiguous. Zak Mellgren writes about his brother’s tragic death and reflects on the death of other loved ones whose faith may have been ambiguous. “I describe our life with Jake as an emotional roller coaster because it was not merely a long march through the valley of the shadow of death. We ascended mountains with him, too.”

10 Theses on Intercession. Paul Schlehlein shares 10 theses on Christian intercession—or what we know more simply as praying for other people.

Podcasts

Paul Martin, my podcast correspondent, has a few new suggestions for you.

This is part one of four (so far) where Jonathan Leeman asks Mark Dever lots of questions about how and why he does what he does in raising up future elders. Any time you stick Dever in front of a mic, there are great little tidbits scattered throughout that often have wide-ranging application. This podcast is no exception.

If you missed this recounting of God’s recent grace in the Middle East, then take up and listen, friend! Doing so will help you pray better for believers in the shadow of current geopolitical crises while, at the same time, rejoice in the Lord who keeps His promise that the gates of hell will not stand against His church.

Time has a way of altering our perspectives. This discussion between Mohler and Dreher about The Benedict Option came out in 2017. Almost ten years later, it is very interesting to listen again and see which predictions landed and which seem remarkably outdated. I consider this an exercise in giving the present only as much credence as it deserves.

Ever wondered why there were so many horses in Kentucky?

Flashback

Non-Political Lessons from “Original Sin”. “It is the part of true wisdom in a man, as he advances in years, to recognize the fact that he can no longer continue to carry all the burdens that he bore in the days of his strength, nor do all the work that he did when he was in his life’s prime.”