Good morning. I am making my way home from Colorado today after a productive series of meetings and video shoots. I’ll look forward to a more normal week next week! In the meantime, be sure to check in tomorrow for Weekend A La Carte and on Sunday for a favorite feature, Works & Wonders.
Sales & Deals
Today’s Kindle deals include lots of interesting books like an exposition of the London Baptist Confession, some brief biographies of Christians you should know, and Thaddeus Williams’s book on reverence.
Some of my books are 50% off at ChurchSource in their print editions: Visual Theology, A Visual Theology Guide to the Bible, and Pilgrim Prayers.
Recommended Reading
Time Flies—and Death Comes Speedily. The older you get, the more you come to understand that time flies and death comes speedily. “As teenagers, my friends and I were awash with youthful pride, poking fun at weighty things we knew little about—completely ignorant that our life here below is ‘a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.’ The dew was still afresh upon our heads; the road of life unfurling in a great spool before our feet, disappearing into the far-off horizon. We could quote you verses here and there from the Scriptures, all the while being completely unversed in this point: “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.” In our minds, we could afford to mock death because we were, at the time, so far removed from it.”
Was Piper Unprepared? A little while ago, John Piper indicated that he may have been unprepared for pastoral ministry when he began it. In this episode of Ask Pastor John, he is asked to explain what he meant by that.
Take Your Faith Deeper with Ligonier’s Grow App. During a time of spiritual decline, God used the Protestant Reformation to bring renewal to His church through the recovery of the biblical gospel. This Reformation Day, explore the truths that fueled renewed devotion to God and His Word in the Grow app from Ligonier. Discover hundreds of Reformation-themed articles, video teaching series, and conference messages to help strengthen your faith and deepen your walk with Christ. Download the Grow app today. (Sponsored)
The Engineering Behind Every Heartbeat. This is a celebration of the engineering of the human heart. “The human heart does not beat like a perfect clock. The time between beats changes as the body breathes, moves, rests, and reacts to the world around it. New research shows that these changes are part of a feedback system linking the heart, brain, and nerves. The heart keeps a steady rhythm while remaining flexible when needed, much like a well-built control system.”
When You Trick-or-Treat, Nod to Martin Luther. Daniel Hyde writes in a local paper to explain to its readers the Protestant contribution to Halloween. “So, by all means, dress up and hand out the candy. When the doorbell rings, remember: The principle that no authority may command conscience protects the civil liberty of the religious and nonreligious alike.”
God’s Left Hand. Bryce Waller: “The most difficult part about politics is what happens after the elections. In Romans 13:1, God calls us to be subject to these governing authorities—to obey the laws they pass, to show them honor and respect, to give them our hard-earned money by paying taxes. Voting is one thing, but submitting my life to a politician, showing respect to that guy, paying taxes to those people—even the people I didn’t choose? That’s not so easy.” These are good things to work out before an election since it will shape your response, whether you are happy with the results or dismayed.
17 Exhortations For Christian Citizens. On a somewhat related note, here are 17 exhortations for Christian citizens. “Bad government and national decline grieve those who love their country and bring a kind of chaos—a hard providence for Christian citizens. Yet even worse forms of chaos stand at the door if enough citizens (including Christians) give in to anger, passion, and impatience. What are pilgrim-voters and stranger-citizens to do as another supposedly cataclysmic ‘most important election of our lifetime’ approaches?”
The Funnies
My friend Chris Martin maintains a Substack called The Funnies, and every Saturday he shares a few fun and silly things he found on the Internet—something I see as a modern equivalent to the comics pages that used to be in every newspaper. I asked him to share a couple with you.
Flashback
From Practice to Perfection. We shouldn’t be surprised or particularly dismayed when others mess up their part or when we mess up ours, for we are all learning and all growing in skill. We apologize, we forgive, we press on.
The best part of all Christian work is that part which only God sees.
—Andrew Bonar
