The God of peace be with you today, my friends.
Today’s Kindle deals include a book by Christopher Ash that your pastor wishes you would read along with several other great picks. (If you’re into Kindle deals, remember I’ve got an X account dedicated to them: @challiesdeals.)
(Yesterday on the blog: Lowest and Last of All)
John Piper on Brokenhearted Boldness: A Christian Alternative to Outrage Culture
Randy Alcorn shares a key bit of writing from John Piper on the importance of brokenhearted boldness. “Boldness can become brash, harsh, severe, cruel, angry, impatient, contentious, belligerent, coarse, crude, snarky, snide, loud, garish, obnoxious — all in the name of Christian courage. Or more subtly, boldness in the cause of truth can become, even if less brash and severe, more all-consuming. It can become such a fixation that all other beautiful affections and dispositions are eaten away from within.”
Why Didn’t Jesus Defeat the Romans? (Video)
Many have wondered why Jesus didn’t defeat the Romans, though I guess he did, in a sense. Alastair Roberts speaks on that in this brief video.
How Do Spiritually Mature Christians Handle Suffering?
Bob Kellemen: “Much of our thinking about suffering is unbiblical. We tend to think that spiritual maturity somehow inoculates us against the pain of suffering. We falsely imagine that the more spiritually mature we are, the less emotional pain we will experience when we suffer.”
Is “Owning the Libs” a Justification for Lying?
Matt Walsh has a new film out and, as Denny Burk explains, it “has opened up a conversation about the ethics of deception and lying when doing so for an ostensibly good cause.” Denny provides his take on the ethics of the matter.
The Odds Might Not Always Be In Your Favor
Amy Medina considers “how often I assuage my fears based on odds. The news headline gives me a fright, but I analyze it carefully: That would never happen to me. I don’t live in that city, in that neighborhood; I don’t frequent that bar, that park, that dark alley. I always buckle up; that cancer doesn’t run in my family; my country would never go to war; I have insurance for that. I don’t need to worry.”
Enjoying the Beauty of Prayer
We often consider the task of prayer or the duty of prayer. But how often do we consider the beauty of it? That’s what Ceenu Susan Jebaraj does here.
Flashback: The Order and Causes of Salvation and Damnation: An Infographic
All the way back in the seventeenth century John Bunyan produced an incredible work of visual theology titled “A Map Shewing the Order and Causes of Salvation and Damnation.” In a pair of side-by-side timelines he traced the salvation of the believer (or the elect) and the damnation of the unbeliever (or the reprobate).
Repentance is more than a repeated apology.
—Kevin DeYoung
