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Weekend A La Carte (December 28)

A La Carte Collection cover image

I’m grateful to Into the Word for sponsoring the blog this week. “Into the Word began in 2017 with a simple mission: to help people read, love and live the whole counsel of God. Toward that end, we try to provide ‘pastor level’ guidance to our listeners, as we walk together, verse by verse and chapter by chapter through whole books of the Bible.” Be sure to give it a look!

Today’s Kindle deals include a few titles that are worth considering.

(Yesterday on the blog: The Collected Best Christian Books of 2024)

The Little Child Who Brings a Rod

Alan Noble’s reflection on “the little child who brings a rod” is well worth reading.

Holy Bravery: How Christian Men Act Like Men

This is a powerful article. “To act like a man means to be strong — not that you can bench three hundred pounds but that you do not faint in the day of adversity. The doctor calls with unexpected results; your own son turns from the Lord; your wife of decades is taken home in a moment. Walls close in. Satan tells you to curse God and die, to quit, to stay down. Instead, you roll over to your knees and cry, ‘The Lord has given and taken away — blessed be the name of the Lord‘.”

When the Growing Is Slow

“When the Christmas whirlwind finally stops, I usually find myself sitting with tired feet in the glow of a tree that is sadly empty of packages and bows. For the first time in awhile, I think about life after Christmas. There is always a day after. A new year is approaching. Resolutions come to mind, but I know from experience that most of them will be forgotten within the first few weeks of the year.”

Creativity in Devotional Time With God

Forrest McPhail expresses the importance of creativity in our devotional time with God.

What Happens When We Share the Gospel? Six Encouragements

Here are some encouragements for those times when you share the gospel.

Does the New Year Need a New You?

“Even as Christians, we often feel the pressure to do more and be better, recognizing we aren’t as loving, committed, or disciplined as we would like. Thankfully, God’s grace covers where we fall short, freeing us from the heavy demands of perfectionism. In light of this, how does a grace-centered perspective reshape our understanding of growth and change?”

Flashback: How To Make A New Year’s Resolution That Sticks

I have done a fair bit of reading on how to make resolutions work…Here are some tips on making wise resolutions and on making them stick.

Racism is nothing more than collective narcissism: I love my group above all others because I love myself.

—Michael Horton


  • 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…

  • A La Carte (June 10)

    Does prayer make a difference? / Portrait of an abortionist / Pushing back against the black tax / Bring your whole self to work / Blessed are the weak / When service isn’t a transaction / A pastoral analogy / Bill C-9 will soon be law in Canada / and more.

  • A La Carte (June 9)

    Thawed embryos, reproductive rights, and the grey marshlands of ethical ennui / 14 World Cup stars who follow Jesus / The God of small churches / How a critical theorist influenced the sexualization of everything / When culture trumps strategy / Fasting and feasting / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Six Counsels for a Sending Church

    Sacrificial obedience to the One who sends is what it will take to reach every language. Join us October 14 to 16 in Dallas–Fort Worth for The Lord Who Sends as we reflect on God’s word and the lives of missionaries who followed the Great Commission.

  • The Two Kinds of Content You Consume

    The Two Kinds of Content You Consume

    At some point we all began to refer to articles and video as content. And today we are drowning in it! Here is a simple filter for telling content created to serve you apart from content created to serve its maker.

  • A La Carte (June 8)

    The humbling I needed / There must be blood / How to read the Bible when your heart feels cold / The delightful duty of married sex / Are we forgiven for the sins we can’t remember? / All things without complaining or arguing