A La Carte (March 25)

The God of love and peace be with you today, my friends.

Today’s Kindle deals include books on subjects as diverse as parenting, creeds, and eating disorders.

Embracing Slow Sanctification

I think you might be both challenged and encouraged by what Erin Davis says here about sanctification. “If God made buds and brains to grow slowly, again I pose the question: Where did we get the idea that God wants us to grow as quickly as possible? And beneath that: If He designed biological and developmental growth to be slow processes, why shouldn’t we embrace spiritual growth following the same pattern?”

Men Are Lost

Murray Campbell writes about the number of men who seem to be lost when it comes to understanding masculinity. “In accepting that Jesus is the plumb line for being human, we will discover that he stands at odds with all kinds of current thinking about sexuality and gender. It’s not a surprise that Jesus doesn’t feature as the answer to Louis Theroux’s investigations or to Victoria’s Secretary to changing men’s behaviour. Jesus doesn’t play by our rules and he doesn’t conform to our inklings.”

Your Attention Isn’t Failing. Your Environment Is.

I think Trevin Wax is right on this: Your attention isn’t failing you as much as your environment is. This means we can stop blaming everything on our screens and start to think instead about all the ways we use screens. “Wanting to read more is one thing. Becoming a reader, in a world designed to prevent the kind of deep focus reading requires, is another.”

Notes on Justice

Joel draws a helpful distinction between two terms that, though related, are distinct: revenge and vengeance. Both of them are important when we consider justice. “Justice involves vindication, the public declaration of right and wrong, the acquittal of the innocent and the condemnation of the wrongdoer. But justice in this present world will inevitably fall far short.”

Ships Passing in the Night: My Friendship With C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien

This article highlights the joys of reading and writing. “We are what we read. In like fashion, we become friends with those authors whose work we read regularly. True and honest writing is a terribly intimate business. In a writer’s endeavor to write those things which are sincerely good, true, and beautiful, they must first throw open the window to their soul so that their well-worn thoughts on a matter can pour out—and equally as vital, so that their readers can peer in.“

The Gospel Is All about Jesus

Randy Alcorn considers those who reject Christianity because of the poor behavior of those who claim to follow Jesus. “Tragically, many reject God because of the behavior of those who profess to be God-followers. I do know many honest and loving and gracious and generous Christians. Unfortunately, you will rarely see them in newspapers and on television, and in my experience, I don’t see all that many online either. This is very sad. I believe it grieves the heart of God.”

Flashback: Does God Care How You Cook Your Goat?

There are broadly two different schools of thought. While some scholars choose one of the two options, a good number suggest both are relevant.