Skip to content ↓

Weekend A La Carte (August 1)

I am traveling today! For the first time since February I am going to board an airplane and cross an international border. At least, that’s the plan. This should be interesting…

There are lots of Kindle deals to sort through today! You may also want to take a look at their monthly general market deals.

(Yesterday on the blog: 10 New and Notable Christian Books for July 2020)

Love is Inconvenient

It sure is! “Inconvenience is the way of love. Love seeks to understand another. Serve another. Bless another. Lay one’s life down for another.”

No One Shared the Gospel with Me

Keith Mathison wants you to consider those young people you see when you’re out and about. “When I see young people running away from God, acting in the most offensive ways they can imagine, I see my younger self. I see lost people who are in desperate need of Christ.”

Marriage in Rapid Decline, Even Among Evangelicals

We’ve known for a long time that marriage is in rapid decline, but it seems that’s the case even among evangelicals.

Original Sin, COVID-19, and Personal Accountability

Murray Campbell draws a comparison between COVID-19 and the doctrines of original sin and total depravity. “Interestingly, in this second wave of COVID-19 that is responsible for locking down my city of Melbourne, we are seeing an analogy of these doctrines. The analogy isn’t perfect but nonetheless, I think it is a poignant illustration.”

The Truth Behind Italy’s $1 Homes (Video)

You won’t be surprised to know the truth about those $1 homes isn’t quite so simple. But it’s also not too bad…

What’s Wrong with Consulting the Dead?

This is a question of some urgency in many African contexts. “This practice has been going on for centuries, sadly even in African Christian circles. This is what prompted me to write this article. Many questions around this tradition need answering: Do the dead influence the living? Can they speak to God in an intermediary role, or on our behalf? Do they have the power to protect us if worshiped? Will they punish us when not worshiped or appeased? But there is one major question I have come across that brings everything together: As Christians, whom should we consult or go to for protection and guidance?”

How Should Christians View Safety?

Brooks Buser offers some good and challenging thoughts about Christians and safety.

Flashback: Do Not Envy the Wicked

We can envy the freedom of the wicked who get to do whatever they want to do, who are ultimately accountable to no higher authority than themselves. We can bemoan the many opportunities we have to decline, the many offers we have to refuse. We can forget that “for freedom Christ has set us free.”

Learning human speech begins with listening to our parents. We speak as we were spoken to. It’s the same way with prayer; we have to first listen to God before we can speak to him.

—Harold Senkbeil

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (March 19)

    A La Carte: How to know if you’re using God / The soul-poison of the little word ‘should’ / True, false, or heresy? / Truthful thinking is greater than positive thinking / Unless the seed dies / and more.

  • The Phrase that Altered My Thinking Forever

    This week the blog is sponsored by P&R Publishing and is written by Ralph Cunnington. Years ago, I stumbled repeatedly on an ancient phrase that altered my thinking forever.  Distinct yet inseparable. The first time I encountered this phrase was while studying the Council of Chalcedon’s description of the two natures of Christ. Soon after,…

  • Always Look for the Light

    Always Look for the Light

    For many years there was a little potted plant on our kitchen window sill, though I’ve long since forgotten the variety. Year after year that plant would put out a shoot and from the shoot would emerge a single flower. And I observed that no matter how I turned the pot, the flower would respond.…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (March 18)

    A La Carte: God is good and does good—even in our pain / Dear bride and groom / Sin won’t comfort you / Worthy of the gospel / From self-sufficiency to trusting God’s people / The gods fight for our devotion / and more.

  • Confidence

    God Takes Us Into His Confidence

    Here is another Sunday devotional—a brief thought to orient your heart toward the Lord. God takes the initiative in establishing relationship by reaching out to helpless humanity. He reveals himself to the creatures he has made. But what does it mean for him to provide such revelation of himself? John Calvin began his Institutes by…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (March 16)

    A La Carte: I believe in the death of Julius Caesar and the resurrection of Jesus Christ / Reasons students and pastors shouldn’t use ChatGPT / A 1.3 gigpixel photo of a supernova / What two raw vegans taught me about sharing Jesus / If we realize we’re undeserving, suddenly the world comes alive /…