I was thankful to travel to Texas and Manitoba last week, and to have the opportunity to speak something like 11 times between the locations. But, as always, I’m now thankful to be back home! It was a special joy to meet many of you. Thanks for saying hello.
Sales & Deals
Today’s Kindle deals include some excellent new books from P&R, like The Death of the Deadly Sins and Managing Your Households Well. Remember that my book From the Rising of the Sun is on sale, and for just a couple of dollars you’ll get both the book and the 12-episode round-the-world documentary series.
Westminster Books is holding a Reformation Day sale, so if you’re looking for books in church history or Protestant doctrine, you’re sure to find something interesting there.
Recommended Reading
When Journalism Crosses a Moral Line. Christianity Today recently published an article that, without credible evidence, alleges that Elisabeth Elliot was bisexual. Denny Burk expresses his concerns and disappointments about the article—both in its content and in the fact that CT would publish it in the first place. “In spite of Austen’s historical caveats and theological error about same-sex attraction, her article ends up giving oxygen to the idea that Elliot was a bisexual. But this claim goes far beyond anything supported by the evidence she provides. Readers would do well to leave this salacious theory behind.” (You can read the original article here.)
A Wife’s Faith Through Her Husband’s Young-Onset Dementia. I found this a sweet and encouraging article about a wife who is caring for her husband through his young-onset dementia. “Greg has been one of my best friends for more than 40 years. We roomed together in our junior and senior years at Western Michigan University, he was a groomsmen at our wedding, and he played a role in my coming to Christ years later. He also has dementia. Specifically, he has young-onset (or early-onset) Alzheimer’s along with vascular dementia. The disease is at the point that Anne and I wondered if this would be the last time he would remember us.”
Resist the Voyeuristic Spirit of the Age. Brett McCracken expresses his concerns about the ways we may have bought into the voyeuristic spirit of the age. He also offers ideas for resisting it. “Contemporary digital technology allows us to easily watch videos of terrorists beheading victims and offers the possibility of live streamed executions of terrorists. With a few clicks, we can find a video of whatever sexual fantasy or morbid curiosity our dark heart conceives. We can use new media for these purposes. But that doesn’t mean we should.”
Also Do Great, Ordinary Things for God. Melissa and I were at the same conference last week (though on different days, so our paths didn’t cross). She came away with some interesting reflections on doing great and greatly ordinary things for God. “There is no tipping point in the kingdom of God where some act of obedience becomes extraordinary enough to count as truly great. Actually everything that Christian people do in accordance with God’s word, every decision we make that is bent toward obedience instead of disobedience, every loving word we speak, every godly attitude we display, every moment that we live with Christ in view, is beautiful and meaningful.”
Your Life Will Slip Through Your Fingers. Zak Mellgren says that life will slip through your fingers, but doesn’t want you to despair about that fact. “The process of aging that the Lord takes us through is often not sudden, but slow. Death by a thousand cuts. One way or another, the things that felt so permanent in this life will be exposed for what they are: ‘a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes’ (James 4:14).”
Help I Need a Spouse! R. Scott Clark is beginning a brief series on finding a spouse. For any number of reasons, it seems like young people are finding it harder today than in the past to find a spouse, so hopefully counsel like this will help. “Christians are not immune … from broader social changes, but we do have a social institution and a network of relationships that our unbelieving coworkers, friends, and neighbors probably do not: the visible church, the Christ-confessing covenant community. Nevertheless, despite the blessing of the visible church, my experience tells me that Christian young people are struggling to find a spouse and that relocating social life from the real to the virtual world, along with the sexual revolutions, has not helped.”
New Books
New Christian books tend to release on Tuesdays. Here are just a few of the books that have become available today. (For a more thorough list, visit This Week in Christian Books.)
Church History for Everyone, Volume 1 by Kevin DeYoung. Kevin DeYoung’s new book tells the early history of Christianity by looking at the lives of noteworthy figures. This first volume begins with the fall of Jerusalem and extends to the lead-up to the Reformation.
The ESV Expository Commentary is now available in two box sets, one covering the Old Testament and the second covering the New Testament. This is the best commentary of its kind and a great addition to any library.
Everyday Discipleship: How Faith Shapes the Most Practical Areas of Life by Jeremy Treat. In this book, Treat “dismantles the harmful sacred-secular divide that leaves many Christians feeling spiritually compartmentalized, uncertain about how faith applies to ordinary life, and unable to fully enjoy Christ in the entirety of our lives.”
Flashback
If You Had Written the Bible. We rightly thank God that when he gave us his book, he gave us both teaching and narrative, for the two are perfectly and wonderfully complementary.
Nothing is more generally known than our duties which belong to Christianity; and yet, how amazing is it, nothing is less practiced?
—George Whitefield
