Thanks to all who filled out the anonymous “here’s a great gift for Father’s Day” form in yesterday’s A La Carte. I got a ton of replies. Please offer your answer if you haven’t yet. There are some clear trends so far, and I’ll share them next week.
Sales & Deals
Today’s Kindle deals include several good titles from Christian Focus and a few from B&H.
At Westminster Books you’ll find some good deals on new books from Ligonier Ministries. I’ve only had time to skim them so far, but some of them look promising.
Recommended Reading
The Commodification Of Christianity. As far as I know, Freya India is not a Christian (yet), but that actually makes her article all the more interesting in my eyes. “The problem with religious apps is the same problem we have with Instagram communities or with online porn, we encounter the virtual version of everything first, before the real thing. And so that becomes our standard. Supplements become substitutes. For us, faith is the live-streams and prayer apps and podcasts.”
Can Christians Smoke Weed? Daniel Darling answers a common question, and one we are probably all being asked these days. “Is it right to consume cannabis? For most evangelicals in America, the question was long a moot point because marijuana consumption was illegal. But today, 24 states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational marijuana use, and 40 states allow medical usage.”
The Christian Theology Handbook. Immerse yourself in The Christian Theology Handbook, an elegant, full-color handbook that includes robust summary content, charts, infographics, doctrinal studies, and more for every major topic in Christian Theology. Constructed with high-quality cloth cover materials and a sewn binding, The Christian Theology Handbook is designed to last a lifetime as a valuable companion resource for study, teaching, and ongoing discipleship. (Sponsored)
Having Kids When There’s Never a Good Time to Have Kids. Griffin Gooch considers the reality that there’s never really a convenient time to have children. “Now, I’m inclined to believe most concerns about the state of the world are valid (though, in many cases, they’re greatly exaggerated). We’re not living in a new Eden. But everytime I see something like this, I can’t help but think: there’s never been a perfect time to have kids. But right now is not, comparatively, the worst.”
The Curse of Climate Anxiety. This article echoes some of the concerns of the last one. Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Alysha Tagert says, “The way we communicate about climate change has done more harm than the crisis it was trying to avert. Now that the scientists who developed the baseline scenarios that informed the scariest models have admitted that their projections are “implausible,” an entire cohort of people needs to adjust.”
We Don’t Have to Admit Evangelistic Defeat Before We Have Started. Quite right! We can definitely be guilty of admitting defeat before we have even begun. “We don’t have to be pessimistic. We don’t have to admit defeat before we have even started. The Lord has his people and he sends us into the world to find them. The Lord tells us those people are there, he tells us the fields are white for harvest, he tells us the harvest is plentiful and the bigger problem is the lack of people going to get it!”
Advice on How to “Preach the Gospel” to Yourself. Micah Colbert explains the basics of an important practice we used to talk about more often. “Preaching the gospel to ourselves is a discipline that we should consistently practice in order to mature in Christlikeness. But what does that actually look like? Practically, how do we ‘preach the gospel’ to ourselves? Recently, a young woman in our church asked me those very questions—ones you may be wondering about as well. If so, I hope the advice I gave her will be helpful to you too.”
Currently
- Doing. I can’t decide if vibecoding with Claude is work or entertainment, productivity or lethargy. I suppose it can be both. But it sure is enjoyable, and especially when it allows me to make tools custom-crafted for my needs. Aileen and I both use and enjoy it a lot.
- Listening. Do you ever discover an old band you haven’t heard in years and fall down a rabbit hole of listening to them? That’s been the case for me with The Seekers, an old Australian band that only people older than me will know of. But it sure has been fun to go back through their old catalog and listen to them again.
- Enjoying. I think I’m pretty good at embracing the current life stage, whatever it is. I loved having little children and loved having teenagers. Now that we are a few weeks into empty nesting, I find that I’m loving this stage as well. The Lord is good to allow us to enjoy so many different phases of life and family.
Flashback
Three Respectable Sins of Pastors. I’d like to offer three ways in which pastors may be tempted to sin against the people they are called to serve. We might consider these “respectable sins,” to borrow Jerry Bridges’ term—sins we can easily dress up as virtues.
The little time that remains between this moment and our death—should quicken our diligence to inherit the endless and unchangeable eternity of God.
—Stephen Charnock
