Good morning. Grace and peace to you.
Today’s Kindle deals include some excellent books by Paul Tripp: Sunday Matters, Awe, Marriage, and others. You’ll also find deals on several interesting titles by other authors along with some top-quality general market deals.
Lighten My Load or Strengthen My Back
Vaneetha Rendall Risner shares a prayer request she heard and adopted as her own. “These became the words I whispered to God throughout the day. I needed God to either lighten the burdens I was carrying or give me strength to endure them. God had to bring change, though I didn’t know in what form. I only knew I couldn’t continue the way things were.”
Why Gen Z Men Like Me Are Staying in Church
With so many people telling us all that the church is doing wrong, it was a blessing to read this article about what the church is doing right. “In the church, Gen Z men like me are rejecting the false masculinities offered by the culture and finding an alternative—a cruciform masculinity. In his death, Jesus subverts the ego, dominance, and self-centeredness of toxic masculinity in a divine display of humility, sacrifice, and love. But the cross also challenges the soft, aimless version of manhood that avoids responsibility and purpose.”
Do Hurricanes Just Happen?
Jim Elliff: “God is at work doing His perfect will, even during hurricane season. These spinning engines of destruction originate from Him as Ruler (first cause), through nature (second cause), all for His purposes. Though God owes us no explanation, one or all of the following possible objectives may help us understand ‘why’ God decrees such fear-producing events…”
Yet Not Crushed
On a somewhat similar note, Phil Antonecchia writes about the recent destruction. “The Christian is not a Stoic. Neither does he flee into a fantasy world that denies the reality of suffering. Paul freely admitted the pressure he experienced. The people of Southern Appalachia are being hard pressed on every side. The pain of this world is staring them right in the face. There’s no time for ‘fraudulent piety’ or ‘denying the reality’ of pain and suffering. Many are without power and clean water and are cut off from the rest of the world due to collapsed roads.”
A Tale of Two Wisdoms
“There are two wisdoms, Paul says: human wisdom, and divine wisdom. They are not the same. They are not even similar. They are not coming to the same conclusions about God, life, priorities, joy, fulfillment, or meaning.”
Failure Happens Slowly Before It Happens Suddenly
Darryl points to a crucial truth about failure: it happens slowly before it (apparently) happens suddenly. “Moral failure is rarely an event. It’s more of a slow process that can be stopped if we catch it early enough, but that will become catastrophic if we let it go.”
Flashback: Christian, When Persecution Comes: Embrace It
How is it possible to rejoice even during something as painful as persecution? Let me offer six reasons you can rejoice and be glad even when persecuted.
By permitting suffering, he tests whether Christians have any feeling. Beware, lest you be weighed in the balances and found wanting. If you can live in a sick and dying world and not feel for others, you have yet much to learn.
—J.C. Ryle
