Speaking broadly, there are two approaches to daily Bible-reading: reading for intimacy or reading for familiarity. Intimacy with the Bible comes by slow, meditative reading that focuses on small portions—deep study of books, chapters, and verses. Familiarity with the Bible comes through faster reading of larger portions—the entire sweep of the biblical narrative. Both are…
The Lord bless and keep you today. Today’s Kindle deals include a few worthwhile books. (Yesterday on the blog: 2022 Christian Reading Challenge – some typos snuck through to the poster yesterday but have now been corrected, I believe.) 2021: A Christian Music Review Every year I link to Jeremy Howard’s review of the best…
Do you love to read? Do you want to learn to love to read? Do you enjoy reading books that cross the whole spectrum of topics and genres? Then I’ve got something that may be right up your alley—the 2022 Christian Reading Challenge. Whether you are a light reader or completely obsessed, this 2022 Christian…
May the God of love and peace be with you today. (Yesterday on the blog: Christmas Bitter and Christmas Sweet) The Need For Christian Love “Christian, you must be a person of love. Our great enemy knows the power of this love in our hearts, relationships, and churches. He does all he can to turn…
There are not many “pure” celebrations in this world, not many occasions in which we are only festive, only rejoicing, only merry. Especially as our lives go on, especially as the years and decades pass, we accumulate more to mourn, more to grieve, more to lament. Eventually every joy is tempered by at least some…
Good morning. Grace and peace to you today. Crossway has some new Kindle deals for you to check out. Logos users, the annual 12 Days of Logos sale has begun and is offering some good deals. (Yesterday on the blog: The Ship Is Always Sailing On) Father In Every Way But One This is some…
One of Charles Spurgeon’s more interesting projects was to write a volume of illustrations, all of which were borrowed from the writings of Thomas Manton. Essentially, he would quote a short illustration from Manton, then expand it into a kind of devotional. The result was called Flowers from a Puritan’s Garden. Here is one of…
May the Lord bless and keep you this weekend. Today’s Kindle deals include some older works and a newer one. Are PhD pastors better pastors? This question was recently asked in a roundtable. While the answers were just fine, Stephen Kneale did offer some further thoughts that I found helpful. Rejoicing in Suffering Guy Richard…
I’ve come to the conclusion that Aileen and I parent weirdly. But I’ve also come to the conclusion that so does everyone else. When each of us looks at other parents, there are almost invariably some components of their parenting we would love to imitate, but others that strike us as, well, a little bit…
May the Lord be with you and bless you today. There are three nice little Kindle deals today. Can You Stand for Truth without Being Offensive? “I often speak on controversial subjects: abortion, homosexuality, Islam, transgenderism, bioethics. These aren’t topics that are casually brought up over Christmas dinner and calmly discussed with out-of-town family. That’s…
Good morning. Grace and peace to you. There are a couple of Kindle deals to look at. We Should Trust God—But For What? This is a good one from Cass Watson. “I cannot trust God to answer every prayer exactly how I want them answered. I cannot trust him to orchestrate my life so there…
Of all the divine thoughts recorded in the pages of sacred writ, of all the promises God provides to humanity, perhaps none is more moving, none more blessed, none more needful than this: He gives his beloved sleep. What would we give to those we love if we had all the power of God Almighty,…
May the Lord bless and keep you today. One Day (Far Side of Our Sorrow) There is a lot of sweet hope in this song. “Hallelujah, there’s a far side of our sorrow / Hallelujah, there’s a hope beyond the grave / Today we mourn / But one day we won’t / So stand and…
May the God of love and peace be with you today. Logos users, the annual 12 Days of Logos sale has begun and is offering some good deals. Today’s Kindle deals include a few good books. (Yesterday on the blog: The Great Challenge of Every Marriage) When the Soul Feels its Worth “Under snow-frosted trees,…
We’ve all heard that marriage was designed to make us holy more than to make us happy. And though it’s a bit of a trite phrase that threatens to force a false dichotomy between holiness and happiness, there is a measure of truth to it. At its best, marriage does, indeed, help us grow in…
Good morning, my friends. Grace and peace to you today. In case you missed it, there was a very good list of Kindle deals on Saturday. I just wanted to offer the reminder that my latest book, Knowing and Enjoying God, is available and perhaps a reasonable gift or devotional option. (Yesterday on the blog:…
There may be no language as quirky and irregular as English, nor any language whose words can have such varied meanings and whose letters can be pronounced in such a multitude of ways. That’s the premise behind this old poem I stumbled upon in an old anthology. It is titled, rather unimaginatively, “The English Language.”…
May you know God’s sweetest blessings this weekend. I want to extend my gratitude to TMAI for sponsoring the blog this week. I encourage you to get your free devotional today! There is a very substantial list of Kindle deals today. There’s also a long list of general market history books. (Yesterday on the blog:…
This week’s Free Stuff Fridays is sponsored by The Master’s Academy International (TMAI), who also sponsored the blog this week. While supplies last, they are giving away free copies of Declaring His Glory Among the Nations: Daily Scripture Meditations from Pastors Around the World. This year-round devotional is the fruit of TMAI’s longstanding commitment to…
With 2021 quickly waning, many of us are beginning to think about a devotional approach for the year ahead. Some are looking for a resource that will serve as the main component of their devotions and others for something that will be merely supplementary. Either way, I’ve collected some of the resources I most recommend…