Skip to content ↓

Weekend A La Carte (December 9)

A La Carte Collection cover image

My gratitude goes to RHB for sponsoring the blog this week to tell you about a great new devotional resource: Glorifying and Enjoying God.

My site will be transitioning to a new design this weekend, so expect a little bit of downtime. If you are seeing this, you’re on the new site! I’ll have more to say about it tomorrow.

Today’s Kindle deals include a few strong resources for the Christian life.

(Yesterday on the blog: My Picks for the Top Books of 2023)

When Grief Like Sea Billows Roll Through Your Holidays

Daniel has a moving piece at CT that recounts his grief following the loss of his mother.

Looking Upwards Amidst Chronic Illness: What God Teaches in Hardship

“Ongoing seasons of chronic illness can weigh us down and they can pose a real challenge to our faith. It’s a challenge to persevere when so many prayers for healing go unanswered. We can feel disappointed in our bodies as they fail us once again. We can struggle to reconcile our knowledge of God’s goodness with our unabating experience of pain. Yet God uses the furnace of chronic illness to refine our faith and teach us precious truths about him and us and the life of faith.”

8 Practical Ways to Flee From Temptation in the Moment

The strength of this article is in relying on Scripture to provide practical ways to flee temptation.

Are You the Strong or the Weak and Also Godly?

Kevin writes about Paul’s use of the categories of the weak and the strong. And whichever you are in a particular circumstance, his encouragement is to commit to being godly in it.

Drawing Near: Loving Your Adult Children and Grandchildren

“When children move from reliance on their parents toward the independence of adulthood, it can be disorienting. Initially, parents set the guidelines for behavior and schedules in the home, but adult children grow toward autonomy by moving out, pursuing careers, and establishing households — households with a culture of their own.” Brenda Harstine offers counsel on navigating this well.

It’s More Awkward to Reject the Virgin Birth

Here’s why it’s awkward—and why it completely undermines the Christian faith—to reject the virgin birth.

Flashback: The Dark Side of Christian Celebrity

There is a celebrity machine, to be sure, but there is also a celebrity landfill, a celebrity dump, a place we relegate people once we are through with them, once they no longer please us.

Christ grabs his pastors by the heart; he doesn’t twist them by the arm. He wants men with a holy ambition for the office, men with holy dreams about feeding and leading the flock, men willing and eager to stretch themselves to do what the calling requires.

—David Mathis

  • A La Carte Thursday 1

    A La Carte (November 27)

    A La Carte: John Piper on false teachings / Everything is television / Is it Satan or God? / The hard way is the easy way / Backward progress / Treat people like adults / and more.

  • New-and-Notablenov

    New and Notable Christian Books for November 2025

    Though the year is coming to its end, it’s not over yet! That means publishers still have some books to release—books we would not wish to overlook before 2025 gives way to 2026. Here are some of the ones I consider especially noteworthy. In each case, I’ve included the editorial description to give you a…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (November 26)

    A La Carte: The other side of human rights / Biblical literacy / A ramp out of the worry rut / The depressed Christian / Quick no, slow yes / Do you see eternity? / and more.

  • Support

    Would you Consider Supporting My Work?

    I have been blogging at Challies.com on a daily basis for well over 22 years now. That long commitment has allowed me to write thousands of articles and hundreds of book reviews while also sending millions of visitors to other sites through the daily A La Carte feature. While I’ve also written a number of books, through…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (November 25)

    A La Carte: Are you still gospel-centered? / Christian liberty / Triumph in trouble / Being faithful in little things / How we choose songs / I’m not sabbatarian / and more.

  • Danger

    The Danger of Defensive Sanctification

    There is a certain kind of sober-mindedness that seems to come over Christians as they age. It can flow from many sources, I’m sure, but I think it often arises from a kind of fear—a fear that they may not finish their race without some kind of a major stumble. After living the Christian life…