Happy Labor Day/Labour Day to my American/Canadian friends. If this is a day off for you, as it is for so many, I pray that it is enjoyable and restful.
Sales & Deals
If all goes well, today’s Kindle deals should include some top-tier books like Waiting Isn’t a Waste, Depression, Anxiety, and the Christian Life, and Eat, Drink, and Be Merry. If they don’t show up, we will blame the holiday and look for them in a day or two.
Recommended Reading
Mother, Give Yourself Away. A big “yes” to the challenge within this article! “I’m just writing this as a reminder to myself and to all of the moms out there who profess Christ. We can easily spend all day on social media where we will absorb every godless thought about being a mom. We can absolutely drown in the type of soul searching that leaves us empty and unhappy and looking for reasons to resent all the ways that we’re called to serve and care for our children. We can take advice from people who not only don’t live according to Scripture, but who laugh at it. We can take in everything that people who have a hopeless worldview want to tell us about how to think and feel. At the end of a day like that, we will look at our children as inconveniences.”
This Is Not What I Meant. I enjoyed Japheth’s thoughts on the ways God sees fit to answer our prayers in his own way, not necessarily our way. “A few years ago I started asking God to make me less concerned about looking foolish. Another bad call. I meant, ‘Make me seek my identity in Jesus.’ God seems to have heard, ‘Let’s give him more opportunities to look foolish.’ And He has.”
The God Party Kids will join Millie and the REAL BAD GUYS as they learn about our amazing three-in-one God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Sponsored)
The Only Thing Green Are the Weeds. Paul Levy uses an observation of nature to draw a spiritual lesson. “Go out into your garden and look on your lawn, your brown lawn with lots of dirt patches yearning for moisture. But in the midst, there are weeds that, inexplicably, look healthy. In oceans of brown grass are dark green weeds. On baking hot pavements there are little green weeds poking through the cracks. Flourishing among wilting plants in borders, are weeds. In unwatered grass, the only thing that still keeps green are the weeds.”
An Open Door Doesn’t Mean Walk In. This is a helpful reflection on open doors. “For Paul, his guiding principle was the abundant love he had for God’s people and his desire to see God’s mission fulfilled. He trusted and knew that God in Christ was leading him, even if it was away from what looked like surefire success. He was following after Christ, who has all authority in heaven and on earth and who, through His death and resurrection, has brought life and victory through the cross.”
Children Are Not Disposable. Missy Roepnack considers the Lindsay Clancy trial (she wrote this before the announcement of a hung jury) and argues that the response to it is part of the wider societal conviction that children are disposable. “As someone who has spent the last fourteen years counseling women who are considering abortion, I am not surprised. Not by the murders, and not by our society’s confusion regarding what justice looks like.”
The Hard Cases: “No One Noticed”. Clint Humfrey writes about one of those hard cases most churches and their pastors have had to content with. “Although this hard case presents as being about pastoral care, it is really about pastoral trust. Can the sheep trust that their pastors know them, notice them, pray for them, and have wisdom for them when they are in need? Can the elders trust that the sheep will speak honestly without turning every ache into an accusation? A church can survive a missed phone call. It cannot long survive a culture where elders and members assume the worst of one another.”
Reader Recommendations
Once a week, I like to ask what you enjoy and recommend. What books, products, videos, sites, or experiences do you recommend to others who read this blog/newsletter? Let me know, and I’ll share a collection on Saturday. (If you’re reading this via email, you’ll need to visit my site to fill out the form. Go here to read last week’s recommendations.)
Flashback
What Can God Do With Broken Hearts? Where the world looks to those who are whole and strong, God looks to those who are weak and broken, for his specialty is bringing much from little, beauty from ashes, strength from weakness.
It is one of the first and last qualifications of a good workman for God that he should put his heart into his work.
—C.H. Spurgeon
