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A La Carte (September 17)

A La Carte Collection cover image

Good morning from Austria! I very much enjoyed last weekend’s events in Schladming and am now taking a couple of rest days before heading to Romania for the final conference of this journey.

Among today’s many Kindle deals are some new titles I have read, enjoyed, and recommended like T. David Gordon’s Choose Better. There’s also a book on theological method, a biographical graphic novel, and much more.

(Yesterday on the blog: Did the Angels Laugh?)

Who’s Afraid of Romans 1?

Andy Hood has a fascinating article about Romans 1 and worldview. “The task of Christian discipleship is not to adopt a Christian worldview by putting on a particular pair of glasses but to take off our glasses and see the world as it truly is. Christianity is not a particular way of looking at the world but the truth about reality, a truth that is knowable by all.”

You Can Only Be What You Can See

T. M. Suffield takes issue with the popular idea that you can only be what you can see—that kind of intersectional thinking that says you can really only learn from people who are like you.

Are You a Pastor Who Hurts People? Six Diagnostic Questions

“I’m talking about the kind of hurt that a pastor inflicts when he acts in ways that fail to build up the body of Christ. In fact, I believe this is how most hurt happens: not when a pastor deliberately plots to make his people suffer, but when he occupies his heart with concerns and interests other than his personal relationship with Christ and the central task of caring for Christ’s flock.”

A Holy Life Is the Seed of Evangelism

Stephanie O’Donnell explains how a holy life is the seed of so much evangelism. She also tells how this proved true in her life.

Heaven on Earth

Casey McCall writes about those moments we sometimes experience when it seems like heaven breaks through to earth. “Do you ever experience those glimpses? It doesn’t have to be the changing seasons that do it for you. I get similar feelings sometimes at concerts. Sometimes it comes over me during mundane family dinners with my wife and children when an unforeseen cheeriness pervades the room. Most often, I experience it at church—as the diverse voices of Christ’s redeemed people sing in unison about the glory of Christ or when a testimony leads me to taste grace more deeply. I can’t manufacture these experiences.”

Thinking Biblically in All Areas of Life

“In a world flooded with persuasive voices, we must learn to think biblically in every corner of our lives.” Doug explains how and why.

Flashback: The Bit of Heaven the Heaven Tourism Books Never Touched

The heaven tourism books, written by men and women still stained by sin, couldn’t show us the glory of that sinless world.

The more clearly we see sin’s horror, the more we shall treasure the cross.

—D.A. Carson

  • Works & Wonders June 14

    Works & Wonders: Bowing the knee or shaking the fist, 39 years to translate the Bible, And Can It Be, How to understand a trillIon, Landsat images, and World Cup covers.

  • Weekend A La Carte (June 13)

    Egg freezing is a booming business / Talk to the A.I. me / Is aging becoming optional? / Feminism and the Fall / The lie of living your truth / Moving on from the Christian Nationalism moment / and more.

  • An Ideal Resource For Your Family Devotions

    An Ideal Resource For Your Family Devotions

    There is a lot I miss from the days when our children were young. High on the list is family devotions. Nick once described our family as having a “Spartan-like commitment” to them, though I remember as much failure as success and as many misses as hits. Still, there’s no doubt that over the 26…

  • A La Carte (June 12)

    The curious case of extra resurrections / Are kids too expensive? / Why hot takes are the enemy of conviction / Piper on preaching outrage / A daily rhythm of prayer / Forgetting and pursuing / A La Quiz / The funnies / and more.

  • A La Carte (June 11)

    We lost the baby / The Bible is cessationist (and wondrous!) / Thinking about Eastern Orthodoxy: a primer for evangelicals / Virtue signalling in the church / What is God’s providence? / Restlessness / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Conform

    You Can Conform to Christ Even if You Don’t Conform to Me

    One of the aspects of the Christian faith that I find particularly perplexing is the freedom God gives his people to obey him in different or even opposite ways, so that one person’s obedience is another person’s disobedience. Even as two people take the same action, one might be obeying him and the other disobeying…