Skip to content ↓

Weekend A La Carte (February 22)

A La Carte Collection cover image

I’m grateful to Ligonier Ministries for sponsoring the blog this week. They want you to know that a 40th anniversary edition of The Holiness of God is available when you provide a donation of any amount. Many would echo me when I say it’s one of the best and most formative books I’ve ever read.

Today’s Kindle deals include a selection of newer books and classics.

(Yesterday on the blog: Either/Or or Both/And?)

Augustine’s ‘Ordo Amoris’ and Immigration Policy

J.V. Fesko considers the “ordo amoris” and draws out an interesting point of encouragement. “For the last several decades, politics has become a battle of sound bites; more recently, our nation has undone 400 years of literacy by plying cultural memes as an engine of political and cultural warfare. In an otherwise bleak landscape, Vance’s invocation of Augustine’s order of love means that, whether right or wrong, he has appealed to a substantive idea rather than a sound bite or meme.”

The Unspoken Tongue

Joshua reflects on the silence of death. “Muffled tears and soft words broke the moment now and again, like small pebbles tossed onto the calm, unbroken surface of a lake. However, all these noises seemed swallowed up within the silence itself – the silence was roaring. One would expect the normal reaction to death and loss to be tears and grief; but when you come face to face with the beast itself, silence often feels most natural.”

Sin Casts a Long Shadow

Paul Levy reminds us that sin casts a long shadow.

But for the Cross of Christ (Video)

You may enjoy this new song from Bryan Fowler. “What is the truth / That ever anchors me / Amidst the waves of all my guilt / That Christ has shed / His blood and pardoned me / At the cross, at the cross.”

Prayers for Scrupulosity

Aubrynn shares some prayers she prays as she faces scrupulosity. They will be helpful, though, even for those who do not.

Don’t Wait to Be Thankful

Erin writes transparently about an especially difficult time in her life and faith. “I’m done waiting to be thankful. Today I give God praise that the dark thoughts have been absent. Even if they return tomorrow, that doesn’t erase the fact that I’ve had three days without them, and it doesn’t erase the fact that God heard my prayers and the prayers of those who love me. Tomorrow’s troubles don’t negate today’s blessings, and nothing can take away God’s goodness.”

Flashback: When We Go Unnourished

…if you, my friend, fail to nourish your soul, you have no cause to be surprised when your soul feels dry, when your faith feels parched, when you seem only to whither and fade.

The Jesus admired by liberals and skeptics would never have been convicted of blasphemy and crucified.

—Michael Horton

  • The Tallest Trees

    The Winds Blow Hardest Against the Tallest Trees

    Through the weekend had many questions about Christian leaders who fall. And I expressed that just as the winds blow hardest against the tallest trees, so temptations may press hardest against the leaders who rise the highest. Just as floods press against shallow roots, so seductive desires rise up against those whose fall would bring…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (April 21)

    A La Carte: Toxic servant leadership / Taking our stress to the Lord / The problem with habits / Is it wrong for Christians to choose cremation? / Why does your church meet in a house? / Big book and Kindle deals / and more.

  • Expectations

    Why We Ask So Little of God

    Most Christians expect little from God, ask little, and therefore receive little, and are content with little. Though the Bible calls us to pray and though it promises that “the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working,” we can still have very modest expectations of what God will accomplish through…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (April 19)

    A La Carte: Why man needs God / Why nails matter / Kids’ picture books / MLK’s famous letter changed a DC church / How to mentor / A tearless eternity / and more.

  • Free Stuff Fridays (TGBC)

    This weeks Free Stuff Friday is sponsored by The Good Book Company. They are giving away a bundle of their best-selling Good Book Guides that are designed to guide your head and your heart through God’s word. Each Good Book Guide includes a concise leader’s guide in the back.  The Bundle includes: Giveaway Rules: You…

  • A Light on the Hill

    A Light on the Hill

    In early 2020, CHBC, along with almost every other church in the world, was forced to contend with the opening days of the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time Caleb Morell was working as Pastor Mark Dever’s personal assistant. Dever tasked him with finding out how the church had responded to the Spanish flu epidemic a…