Good morning. Grace and peace to you.
Today’s Kindle deals include several excellent titles from Crossway. At the top of the list, I’d put Tom Schreiner’s The Joy of Hearing. It’s a good time to catch up on an excellent and growing series. There were also lots of interesting general market deals today, so I added them to the end of the list.
A Response to Dr. John MacArthur’s Statement on Mental Health
Last week a video was being passed around that showed some statements by John MacArthur on mental health. I share this well-reasoned response because I think it offers a thoughtful and well-informed model of gracious disagreement. “To be clear, this article is not an attack on the person or character of Dr. MacArthur, a Christian brother for whom I have much respect and who has been a bulwark of solid reformed theology for many decades. Nevertheless, there are several things within the statement that, as a professional working in Christian psychiatry I would like to address…”
How Much Should Churches Pay Their Pastors?
Churches often struggle to know how much to pay their pastors. This article takes an interesting approach, and while the context is Canadian the principles should apply anywhere.
Sustainable Ministry Practices
Brian Croft and Ronnie Martin have co-written a new resource for pastors to help them enjoy the work the Lord has given them. Get 25% off with code CHALLIES. (Sponsored)
Love Is No Longer My God
Heidi Tai: “I once believed that love was a feeling—sizzle and spark, sustained by soulmates and kindred spirits. Love was that special something. It not only had to feel right, it also had to feel good.”
Keeping Watch
“I watch the sun sink beyond the birch and maple, grateful for lingering light on these almost-spring days. Soon the bare branches will bud and green, crowding the sunsets over the lake. But tonight, in the cool and quiet, I keep watch. I think of other sunsets, in other places. Of ribbons of colors over ocean waves. Of mountain shadows inching over a gentle alpenglow. I remember the people I’ve known and who have known me in those places. Of the first meetings, awkward and vulnerable. How strangers become family over time.”
The Fatally Friendless Father
The author of this article insists that dads need friends. I very much agree!
Fear of Missing Out
“As a writer and household manager, I spend most of my time at home. Although my work is often exhausting and the hours are long, home is still my comfort zone. Comfort zones are those familiar places where we feel secure and have an illusion of control. We tend to avoid anything that could upset such blissful equilibrium or cause discomfort, so it takes force to propel oneself out of a comfort zone and into a novel situation. For me, that force is FOMO: the fear of missing out.”
Why Won’t Heaven Be Boring? Recovering the Beatific Vision
Too many Christians think that heaven sounds kind of boring. “The childhood conception of heaven I gladly shed in my early twenties was one of reality diminished. But the beatific vision promises something infinitely more enriched than anything we experience here. It is the ultimate end of our every joyous encounter with goodness, truth, and beauty.”
Flashback: What Makes a Sermon Difficult To Listen To
There are no perfect preachers and no perfect sermons, but there’s an unchanging, unerring message that still shines through.
A yardstick provides us with a simple illustration. A yardstick measures a yard and is itself a yard. God’s beauty is like that. He is beauty, and He is the measure of all beauty.
—Steve DeWitt
