I hope you don’t mind that this is a bit of a book-heavy week, but I’ve had a lot of book content I have wanted to share. Hence, we’ve had This Week in Christian Books, The First 100 Books for the Children’s Section of Your Church Library, and Spoiled for Choice: Two New Graphic Novels of Pilgrim’s Progress. A book review will follow tomorrow, then we’ll be mostly caught up for now.
Sales & Deals
Today’s Kindle deals include Prioritizing the Church in Missions, Growing Up, and several good books for children.
Recommended Reading
On Spouses Sitting Together in Church. I happened to spot some of the kerfuffle that erupted after TGC Australia shared an article about why spouses should consider not sitting together in church. As happens on social media, the response seemed far out of proportion to the article. I found Murray Campbell’s response a good and reasonable one, even if I intend to keep sitting with Aileen most Sundays.
Can’t You Just Be Like Me? I suppose in some ways, Bobby Scott’s piece on tribalism and disunity could nicely follow the previous article. “Tribalistic churches and Christians demand conformity to their broad range of preferences, believing they are inviolable God-ordained principles. So they strive to silence or coerce other Christians to assimilate, or they quietly despise these brothers and sisters. This inevitably leads to dark consequences. Instead of loving other Christians who have the same primary biblical convictions but differ over tertiary issues, tribalistic Christians feel justified in waging war against them.”
Nelson’s Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts is out in a fourth edition, updated with new high-resolution photography to go with its full-color maps, timelines, and charts for every book of the Bible. (Sponsored)
Husbands, Pray for Your Wives. Costi Hinn: “I’ll never forget the first time I sat in a men’s Bible study on a Saturday morning listening to a man unpack the importance of praying for your wife. I was honestly blown away by the simplicity of it all and how I had never thought to pray for her — and I mean, like really pray for her.” He outlines eight ways men can do so.
Six Comforts for Pastors. This article from Darryl Dash delivers what it promises. “If we base our identity on how well our ministries are going from an earthly perspective, we will be in trouble. Every pastor’s ministry will have good times and bad times. Basing our identity on how well things seem to be going is like putting our hope in a volatile stock. We will end up elated some of the time and despondent the rest. As pastors, we need to put our confidence in something more secure than how well things seem to be going. Here are six comforts for pastors that will last and sustain us, no matter how well or poorly our ministry seems to be going.”
The Most Fun I Ever Had. Concerned about all those who are disparaging motherhood today, Brittany Allen chooses to celebrate it. “I still find it hard to write articles about the joys of motherhood because I never want to isolate sisters who are longing for a family. Yet, at the same time, I want to talk back to our culture that treats motherhood as a curse rather than a gift.”
Will We Really Be Perfect in Heaven? Randy Alcorn: “Someone e-mailed me this question: ‘In Heaven, will some people still be annoying? After all, eternity’s a long time!’ Annoyance is sometimes caused by others’ sin, our own, or both. Since sin will be eliminated, so will annoyance. That doesn’t mean people won’t have idiosyncrasies, only that they won’t be rooted in sin, and none of us will degrade or dismiss others.” He explains what it means that we will be perfect in heaven.
The Most Offensive Doctrine
Every now and again, I like to share a quote that I have encountered through my reading. This is drawn from J.C. Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on Luke, which I’m enjoying a lot.
Of all the doctrines of the Bible, none is so offensive to human nature as the doctrine of God’s sovereignty. Man can bear to be told that God is great, and just, and holy, and pure. But to be told that He has mercy on whom He desires, that He does not give an account of all His doings, that it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy – these are truths that natural man cannot stand. They often call forth all his enmity against God and fill him with wrath. Nothing, in short, will make him submit to them except the humbling teaching of the Holy Spirit.
Flashback
Hosting Your Own Little Haman Party. You can rarely be a blessing to others when you fixate on yourself. So have the humility, wisdom, and love to ask about others more than you volunteer information about yourself. You might even learn something from them along the way.
God’s salvation doesn’t come in response to a changed life. A changed life naturally comes in response to salvation.
—Tim Keller
