Good morning from Fort Worth. I enjoyed meeting many of you at the Missionary conference yesterday. Unfortunately, I am not going to be there today or tomorrow as I’m making my way north to Brandon, Manitoba for another event. I hope you enjoy the rest of the conference!
Sales & Deals
Today’s Kindle deals include several excellent choices like J. Warner Wallace’s Person of Interest and, for the first time, Justin Poythress’s almost new Who Am I and What Am I Doing with My Life?
Recommended Reading
Never to Be Cast Out. Wes Bredenhof has received extremely difficult news about his health. From that perspective he writes about his confidence that no matter what happens to his mind and body, he can and will never lose his salvation.
Parents, Meet Your Gospel Tutor. Dave Harvey introduces parents to their gospel tutor. “In families with multiple kids, God sometimes gives you a compliant child. You know the type. The one who follows the rules, keeps their room tidy, and makes you look like a model parent. … If we’re honest, we can begin using that child as a measure of our parenting. Why? Because compliant kids make our parenting look strong. They make us feel competent. On Sunday morning, our family beams like an online advertisement for biblical parenting.”
God Is Our Refuge and Strength. Banner of Truth has a nice preview of the new devotional book God Is Our Refuge and Strength, coming out this month by Rob Ventura and Bill Boekestein, available to view on their website. Dr. Joseph Pipa said: “Those who use this new work will deepen their grasp of this treasured portion of God’s Word.” (Sponsored)
Our Membership Vows and Our Future. “The future is mind-bogglingly unknown to us. Can any of us predict what the news headlines will be two weeks from now? It would be a silly thing to bet on. Scientists have got better at doing the weather forecast, but we still can’t predict how the next meal with our family will go! All it takes is one envelope through the door, one meeting with the doctor or with the boss, one text message, and, suddenly, we’re thrown a curveball.” This is part of what makes vows so important.
Can You Sin Against a Chatbot? Anthropic, makers of Claude, has recently announced that its users are now prohibited from “abusive or cruel behavior” towards Claude. David Mitzenmacher explains why it’s not possible to sin against a chatbot. “The company’s official ‘constitution’ expresses concern for Claude’s psychological well-being, raises questions about whether the model can consent, and even offers a conditional apology for any unnecessary harm Anthropic might have caused it.”
Not All Christian Websites Are Good for Your Health. Indeed, they are not. “I wonder what the Apostle Paul would say about online Christian discourse? What kind of encouragements and warnings would he give followers of Jesus as we hear and discern and collate the vast quantities of religious speech that’s available on YouTube, Facebook and X?”
The Mom God Isn’t Calling You to Be. Here’s a good word from Katie Faris on the kind of mom God isn’t calling you to be. “As Christian mothers, it’s our privilege and duty to teach our children about God, his character, and his ways. We’re called to show our children what it means to follow Jesus and become more like him. But God isn’t calling us to be perfect moms who always show up on time and have everything together. Instead, as forgiven moms, our mission is to point our children to our perfect Savior.”
A Choice Quote
I have often read and appreciated this quote by J.R. Miller. He wants Christians to have confidence that God always supplies the grace we need—but not until we need it.
Many a mother, when she reads how some other Christian mother bore herself with sweet resignation when her child died, says, “I could not give up my child in that way—I have not grace enough to do it.” But why should she have such grace now? It will be time enough when she needs it. That supply can be gotten at only when she is in the midst of the experience itself. While the child lives, the mother’s duty is not sorrow, not submission—but rather, with loving fidelity, to train her child for this life, and for the life beyond; and for this duty, the mother will receive all needful grace, if she seeks it in faith. Then, if death comes to her child, grace will be given, enabling her to meet the bereavement, and sweetly to submit to God’s disclosed will.
Flashback
10 Ways To Keep Your Reading Fresh. I find that as often as not, we stop reading because our habits have grown stale. We have grown tired or bored with our usual patterns and have turned our attention to other things. For that reason, let me offer 10 suggestions on keeping your reading fresh.
Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish.
—Anne Bradstreet
