Skip to content ↓

A La Carte (May 11)

tuesday

The God of love and peace be with you today.

(Yesterday on the blog: We Have the Light So We Can Be the Light)

Nearly There

This is moving. “Two decades later and my son is gone. No gravestone marks his death, or memorial service to recall in our grief. Instead, my son lives apart from us. His path, he said, forked away from faith, and as he walked that wide way, it lead him away from us. Mother’s Day was filled with a filtered light, light and shadow held an uneasy truce, joy and sorrow held hands long into the evening. The boy I watched struggle into this world is now struggling with the world.”

Congregations of Bruised Reeds

“There are so many ways to become bruised. A few people in my church grew up with belligerent fathers. Now, every time a man raises his voice, they become disproportionally afraid. Others in my church have lost loved ones to suicide. I officiated the funeral of my grandfather who took his life. A dozen people in my church suffer from chronic illness. And to one degree or another, all of us struggled over the last year with aspects related to Covid. There are just so many ways to become bruised.”

The Shared Priority of American Evangelicalism and the Medieval Papacy

Keith Mathison is beginning a short series that looks plenty interesting. “I want to spend a couple of days thinking about three of the ways American evangelicalism is attempting to kill itself: first, by following in the footsteps of medieval Roman Catholicism in one particularly dangerous way, second, by following in the footsteps of modernist religious liberalism in one particularly dangerous way, and third, by adopting the theologically and ethically suicidal attitude of radical anti-intellectualism.”

Health Wealth and Heterosexuality

In this one, Stephen McAlpine makes an interesting connection between the prosperity gospel and new legislation against conversion therapy. “It seems clear that orthodox evangelicals are going to be swept up by the culture for our historic inability to shut down, and repudiate, the over-realised eschatology found within many influential Pentecostal groups.”

Context Matters: God’s Mercies Are New Every Morning

I appreciate these “Context Matters” articles from Knowable Word. In this one Ryan Higginbottom looks at the well-known words, “God’s mercies are new every morning.” “When we learn to read the Bible as an actual book and not as a professionally-bound collection of pull-quotes, we’ll find that some of our favorite passages take on deeper and more sobering meanings.”

The Lord Has Become Like an Enemy

And then, a second article on Lamentations. “Most Christians don’t have a problem seeing God’s hand in the blessings of life. Give us a new job, a narrowly-avoided accident, or an energizing time with a friend and we’re eager to point to God as the giver. It’s harder for us to see God bringing difficulty our way. How can we attribute bad circumstances to a good God? The author of Lamentations did not have this modern problem.”

Flashback: The One Sure Mark of Christian Maturity

The Bible has the power to mature us, and as we commit ourselves to reading, understanding, and obeying it, we necessarily grow up in the faith. That maturity is displayed in the good works we do more than in the knowledge we recite.

We can allow our waiting to drive us from God or to drive us to him. Our burdens exist to make us lean all our weight upon the Lord.

—Betsy Childs Howard

  • A La Carte Thursday 1

    A La Carte (May 1)

    A La Carte: Write what’s been written / The dangers and benefits of revival / Some of my best friends are inside that book / What happened in Canada / What is covenant theology? / New Kindle deals / and more.

  • Carney Trump

    How Donald Trump Upended Canadian Politics and Helped the Liberals Win

    On April 28, Canadians elected the Liberal Party of Canada to a fourth consecutive term. This is a rare feat for a political party in Canada and in this case, one of special significance, for just months ago, the Liberals seemed destined for near-complete destruction. The cost of living was spiking, the quality of life…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (April 30)

    A La Carte: Young men wanted / The glory and danger of apologetics / God’s guidelines for sex aren’t arbitrary / How much is our church worth? / People loved the darkness / and more.

  • Erics Greatest Race

    Releasing Today: Eric’s Greatest Race

    My new book releases today! Eric’s Greatest Race is a fully illustrated graphic novel that tells young readers the story of Eric Liddell, the famous Olympian whose steadfast courage and commitment to Christ has inspired generations of believers. It is my sincere hope that it will introduce a whole new generation to a man whose…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (April 29)

    A La Carte: Has the decline of U.S. Christianity finally stopped? / Holding space for joy and sorrow / No one ever hated his own body / Wisdom principles for Christian parenting / The article you don’t want to read / A new book / Kindle deals / and more.

  • The Pursuit of Virtue

    God’s character is the essence of virtue. The heart of virtue is to know the Lord and to become like him, as a child resembles her father. That is the goal, privilege, and destiny of the redeemed. #Sponsored