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Weekend A La Carte (June 27)

Today’s Kindle deals include some classics as well as commentaries by Stott and Kidner.

(Yesterday on the blog: 12 New and Notable Books for June 2020)

Systemic Racism, God’s Grace, and the Human Heart: What the Bible Teaches About Structural Sin

Albert Mohler has a helpful look at systemic racism. “Sin corrupts every institution and every system because, one way or another, sinful human beings are involved. This means that laws, policies, habits, and customs are also corrupted by sin. We are called to do everything within our power to expunge sin from the structures of our society. Christians know that the justice of God demands that we do so. At the same time, we cannot accept that the structural manifestations of sin are the heart of the problem. No, the heart of the problem is found in the sinfulness of the individual human heart.”

Ahistorical Activism

This one comes from First Things. “Today’s iconoclasm should trouble us. Not because it judges the past, but because it fails to uphold any permanent ideals against which the past or the present might rightly be judged. If anything, the movement goes out of its way to smash traditional symbols of moral authority and repositories of moral wisdom.”

Train Up a Child? (Video)

Robert Godfrey speaks briefly and helpfully on Proverbs 22:6.

Well, That Didn’t Last Long

I have seen the same thing locally—the unity that came with the beginning of the crisis has already given way to sniping and fighting. “I don’t think I’m responsible for policing the opinions of my neighbours but I do feel responsible for having started the group, and am sorry that it is now splintering. My aim was to strengthen the neighbourhood, not create a platform for new animosities to form.”

Christians Behaving Badly

“Most of us – at least here in the US – have been locked away for three months. The use of social media has been one of the ways people have been able to ‘get out of the house.’ But as we start to regather into our congregations I wonder if turmoil that began on social media will carry over into regular church life.” I expect that in many cases it will.

What the Tentmaking Business Was Really Like for the Apostle Paul

What was tentmaking like for the Apostle Paul? And how big a role did that play in his life? Here’s a brief attempt at an answer.

Small Decisions Matter: Discernment for Everyday Life

Here’s Ed Welch on day-by-day discernment. “This way or that way? Right in God’s eyes or right in our own eyes? Two paths. One is self-destructive; one is filled with life. Our lives are now brimming with daily judgments of ourselves and our world. These judgments determine our course and carry eternal consequences.”

Flashback: Mark Zuckerberg Covers His Webcam. Should You?

In an age of ubiquitous data collection, there is wisdom in taking some basic measures of self-protection and self-preservation.

He who prepares not for his dying-day runs the hazard of losing his immortal soul.

—Thomas Brooks

  • When God Plants an Acorn

    When God Plants an Acorn, He Means an Oak

    We stood together on the crest of a hill, a gentle breeze rustling the meadow around our feet. The fields ran gently downward until they met a creek that gurgled happily in its course. A few years prior, an acorn had somehow made its way to the highest point of this hill, carelessly dropped there…

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    A La Carte (April 28)

    A La Carte: Protestantism’s Catholic converts / How healthy is your pursuit of health? / God’s special calling on your life / Considering a Christian university? / Testing the teachings of Catholicism / Kindle deals / and more.

  • New and Notable

    New and Notable Christian Books for April 2025

    It is surprisingly difficult to find a list of Christian books that have been released in any given month—especially if you want that list to be filtered by books released through particular publishers. That’s one of the reasons why I close each month by coming up with my list of New and Notable books. I…

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    Weekend A La Carte (April 26)

    A La Carte: Every pinch of pain has purpose / China closed Christian bookstores / Watch for the thing after the thing / For everything there is a time / Showers of blessing / What Pope Francis can teach us about preaching / and more.

  • What Makes You Beautiful

    What Makes You Beautiful

    I have often thought of a conversation that took place when my girls were little. Abby was perhaps 5 or 6 at the time and Michaela just working her way through the “terrible twos” (which for our kids always happened when they were three or four). A stranger saw me interacting with them one day…