Sales & Deals

Today’s Kindle deals include several good books and a Bible I haven’t seen on sale before: The Evidence Study Bible.

Recommended Reading

When Little League Games Become Big League Idols. Youth sports can verge on insanity at times, can’t they? “This vicarious desire for glory and placing our children and their achievements in the role reserved for God damages not only the moral compass of those involved but also the children themselves. We tell ourselves that we are doing it for them. We tell ourselves they have an opportunity that we never had. We tell ourselves they are talented and that we don’t want to waste their potential. But there comes a point when the child ceases to be a child and becomes a vehicle for the parent’s ambitions.”

Selfies in the End Times. John Piper considers the heart behind all those selfies and responds to a reader who wonders if they are evidence that we are in the last days. “Yes, these are the last days, and we should be looking keenly and expectantly and hopefully and joyfully for the coming of our precious, longed-for, all-satisfying Lord Jesus. But no, these are not yet the very last days, but are very much like the last days that began two thousand years ago in the first century.”

Blades of Eternity and the Curse of the Black Saber. In book two of the Blades of Eternity series, Prince Mel and his brave band of allies embark on a dangerous quest to thwart the evil plans of the King of Winter and restore order to the Realm. (Sponsored)

AOC’s Illogical Case for Egg Freezing. Emma Waters considers AOC’s recent video about freezing her eggs. “Women enter adulthood illiterate about their own fertility, especially in a career-first culture. But promoting egg freezing doesn’t combat ignorance or encourage women to pursue a family-first path earlier on. It profits from that ignorance, selling women a workaround that costs $15,000 per egg-retrieval cycle, commits them to later IVF, and succeeds less than 8 percent of the time per frozen egg.” (First Things uses a metered paywall, so hopefully you have a free article remaining.)

Entrusting Your College Student to the Lord. Shea Patrick will soon be taking her son to college, and this has her reflecting on entrusting him to the Lord. “The change is bittersweet. After all, we want our children to grow and mature and develop into young men and women. It is a natural part of life. However, I must admit to mixed feelings and questions during this time of transition. Maybe you find yourself in a similar situation and are asking similar questions to these…”

3 Things Stress Reveals. Michael Kelley: “Circumstances come into our lives and inevitably, stress comes with them. It could be that you feel stress from work, from home, from church. It might be that a particular relationship is stressful because of what it demands of you, that you feel like you might buckle under the weight of some responsibility you’ve been given, or that you simply don’t think your paycheck is going to last long enough to cover the doctor bills. Tighter, tighter, tighter – until you feel like you’re going to explode.”

When Did the Church Begin? When did the church begin? Our usual answer focuses on the early chapters of the book of Acts, but as Anthony Faggiano explains, we should look earlier than that.

A Review Request

It’s a reality of publishing today that authors rely on reviews. If you’ve read any of mine, would you be willing to jump over to Amazon to leave a quick review? It will take only a moment and will help make a difference! Here are a few of my books:

• Seasons of Sorrow
• God’s Great Big Global Church
• Devoted
• Do More Better
• From the Rising of the Sun
• Click here for others

Flashback

Unexpected, Unwanted, and Unwelcome. We can have complete confidence that the One who invited us is waiting to receive us—that he who was welcomed to the side of his Father will most certainly welcome us in the same way. 

Sales & Deals

Today’s Kindle deals include several good picks from The Good Book Company. Among them you’ll find two volumes of the excellent God’s Word for You series, which is ideal for personal, family, or group study.

Recommended Reading

Your Faith Muscle Needs Exercise. Paul Tautges is exactly right here: Your faith muscle needs exercise if it is to be strong and resilient. “When suffering comes your way, you have two basic choices: you can choose to persevere under trial and grow in endurance, or you can run from pain and be robbed of growth. One way you gain; the other way you lose. If you decide you have had enough pressure and develop the habit of running from all trials, you will short-circuit the process of your own spiritual maturity.”

Store Treasure in Clay. Dave Harvey marvels at God’s wisdom and purpose in using clay pots. “This priceless gospel treasure is stored in clay pots. In other words, it’s entrusted to fragile, breakable, easily chipped containers like… us. Clay jars were the Tupperware of the ancient world—cheap, common, expendable. Used for everything from food to waste. Think: disposable plastic cups. Paul says, ‘That’s me.’ That’s us too. Just ordinary, breakable vessels holding infinite value.”

15 Resolves for Maintaining Spiritual Balance in Severe Interpersonal Conflicts. “The pain of interpersonal conflict may seem too acute to bear. Sometimes we see these conflicts erupt suddenly among families, or between church members, or at work or school. They may involve serious allegations that tend to rip people apart in ways that seem irreparable. In these most severe ruptures of confidence, when the necrosis of sin is eating up the lives of those involved, is it possible to rise above and maintain a spiritual composure? Certainly that must be so. But we have to apply biblical principles ruthlessly, without wavering.” Jim Elliff lays out a series of them.

The Benefits of Bivocational Ministry. I thought Bryan Rigg’s defense and celebration of bivocational ministry was quite helpful. “Having served most of my pastorate as a bivocational minister, I firmly believe that being concerned with other vocations can be a blessing to both the minister and the congregation. The following examples illustrate why bivocational ministry is not only viable but often preferable in specific circumstances.”

Access All Areas: Exhilarating Proximity in the Christian Bubble. Stephen McAlpine writes about the exhilaration that can come with being in proximity to the Christian bubble (or any other bubble, for that matter). “One of the most telling admissions in Christian communities that have crashed and burned due to influential but unhealthy leadership is just how intoxicating it is to have high level access to that leader. The proximity is exhilarating. Intoxicating. Lots of words with ‘x’s’ in them! And that proximity is like crack cocaine. Once you get a taste for it, it’s very hard to wean yourself off it.”

How to Change Your Perspective on Time. “The movement of time is a simple fact. We cannot change it. The only thing we can change is how we view and react to it, and I’m convinced that our perspective on time has everything to do with hope.” Seth Lewis helps us think well about the inevitable movement of time.

Book Brief

I was thankful to have caught at least the tail end of Nolan Ryan’s legendary career, albeit only from the perspective of a fan of one of his rival teams. I even remember when he no-hit the Blue Jays back in 1991—the last of his record 7 no-hitters. He was one of a kind and is a fitting subject for a fresh biography. Tim Brown gives it to us in the aptly titled Nolan. He describes Ryan’s story, from his humble beginnings in small-town Texas to the spotlight of superstardom, to withdrawing back to Texas to live the dream of owning a cattle ranch. The biography is a joy to read and is a positive, compelling telling of a noteworthy life. (Amazon)

Reader Recommendations

On Saturdays, I like to share recommendations from readers. So what books, products, videos, sites, or experiences do you recommend to others who read this blog/newsletter? Let me know and visit here on Saturday to see the results. (If you’re reading this via email, you’ll need to visit my site to fill out the form. Go here to read last week’s recommendations.)

Flashback

In My Father’s School Are Many Classrooms. We can always have confidence that he has chosen for us what we would choose for ourselves if only we could know what he knows and see what he sees. We can always be certain the day will come when we will praise and thank him for his every choice, his every decision, his every expression of his sovereignty over our lives.

Sales & Deals

Today’s Kindle deals include several good books like Show Them Jesus (for parents), Grandparenting with Grace (for grandparents), The Five Points of Calvinism (for everyone).

Recommended Reading

Are World Religions Halfway to God? Some people suggest that world religions can get their adherents halfway to God. Jon Hoglund explains why that is not the case. “The Christian gospel asserts that every other religion comes up short. But how do the errors in world religions affect their integrity? Are these shortcomings disposable elements that can be replaced, or are they integral parts of a system in danger of collapse? Paul’s choice to engage the Athenians on the altar to the ‘unknown god’ indicates the latter. By paying attention to his approach, we learn how best to engage with friends and neighbors of other religions.”

The Ruinous Hatred of Flattery. Zak Mellgren helps us understand the sheer ugliness of the sin of flattery. “‘Subtle’ sins of speech like flattery can be more dangerous than the obvious ones because they don’t tend to register on our radars like other sins do. A temper tantrum explodes on the screen, blinding us with its white-hot intensity. We know it’s there. But flattery? It shows up as a tiny, barely noticeable dot. A blip. If you’re not paying attention, you’ll hardly notice its there.”

Blades of Eternity and the Curse of the Black Saber. In book two of the Blades of Eternity series, Prince Mel and his brave band of allies embark on a dangerous quest to thwart the evil plans of the King of Winter and restore order to the Realm. (Sponsored)

Beware the New Thieves. Marty VanDriel warns about some of the new thieves that are running rampant in our world. He explains how to protect yourself and how to protect others.

Starving in Silence. Writing for TGC, Emily Keller explains how the church can play a key role in helping those with eating disorders. “For months, my eating disorder interrupted Communion. I sat in the pew quietly trying to calculate how I’d work the calories of my bread and cup into my increasingly restricted diet, which was, in fact, doing the job I’d given it. But as my body shrank, so did my capacity for joy, fellowship, and meaningful relationships.”

Do I Resent the Life God Gave Me? Sarah Walton considers resentment toward God. “When we are suffering and feel resentment towards those who are not, or when we resent others for having something that we don’t have, our feelings are rooted in some form of unbelief towards God. We are either believing that he’s not good (‘If he was truly good, he would not deny me what I want’), or that he’s not in control (‘If he was truly sovereign, he could have prevented this or given me what I think I need’), or that he’s not trustworthy (‘This can’t be what’s best for me’). The battle begins at the level of our thoughts”

When God’s Plans Seem Inconsistent With His Promises. Meanwhile, on a somewhat similar note, Kirsten Black considers those times when God’s plans seem inconsistent with his promises. “Times of testing can act like a press, squeezing out belief, character, or doubt that exist below the surface; things which are easily managed or ignored when life is comfortable. In his faithfulness, God walks us into seasons of testing, both to strengthen us and also to expose falsely held beliefs and ideologies. In his kindness, God also gives us examples from his word of those who endured difficulty yet remained faithful.”

Headlines

Here are a couple of recent headlines from Christian news outlets that caught my eye.

Canadian Family Claim Christian Grandmother Was Euthanised Against Her Wishes. This is yet another warning about what happens when euthanasia is allowed to run rampant. “A family in Canada has alleged that their 83-year-old grandmother was euthanised despite her stated Christian beliefs and lack of mental capacity to consent to the procedure.”

US Announces $2 Billion for Christian Groups. I don’t have the context to know how this will play out, but it’s certainly interesting to see Christian groups entrusted with this degree of funding. May they use it well and direct it to the best purposes!

Flashback

Unqualified and Unwilling. Not every man can or should be an elder, but every man can and should aspire to have the character of an elder, for this is simply the character of Christ. If you are already willing, then strive to become qualified.

Good morning. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.

Did you know I have a whole section of my site that includes book recommendations across a wide range of topics? You can access it here: Book Recommendations.

Sales & Deals

Today’s Kindle deals include a book on toxic self-love and books about well-known intellectuals, among others.

Recommended Reading

Peace Is Better. Melissa Edgington explains how she has come to see that peace is better than the alternative. “A fiery certainty lives inside most human beings when they’re 25 years old. 25 year olds are the ultimate in confidence that they know the best way to do things, the best way to think, and what is right and wrong. Most 50 year olds have realized that they know less than ever. We’ve seen 25 year old authors write books in which they lay out a philosophy of marriage or dating, only to hear that years later they renounced the whole idea. Many 50 year olds have learned enough to know that they aren’t good enough at marriage to give much advice about it, and if 50 year olds do give marriage advice, it’s generally tempered with a healthy dose of humility. Living a few extra years has a way of humbling us, and that’s a good thing.”

I Take No Pleasure in the (Career) Death of the Woked. Stephen McAlpine writes about the strange demise of Jason Arday’s career in academia. “I do worry about Arday now. It’s time to back off and give him breathing room. This is a man whose whole life has been exposed and held up for ridicule. Does he deserve to be a professor at Cambridge? Undoubtedly no. Does he deserve to be shredded publicly, hilariously and frequently day in and day out? Also undoubtedly no. As a Christian I believe that the level of exposure he experienced is a mere foretaste of the level of exposure we will all face before the Judge of all the earth one day. We should be sobered at the manner in which his life fell apart so quickly and his misdemeanours were revealed so readily. That will be all of us one day!”

Some of the Strangest Old Testament Laws and What They Mean. This is a helpful little roundup of some of the strangest Old Testament laws and a reasonable explanation for each. “Many readers view a number of laws in the Pentateuch as obscure, strange, and sometimes impossible to understand. Specialized vocabulary and ritualistic concepts make them difficult to translate for the ears of modern readers. However, we must take great care to read each law within its given context instead of ignoring or reading our own mindset into the text.”

Picking Your Successor? J.V. Fesko considers pastoral succession and gives his take on why it’s probably best if a pastor does not choose his successor. “I am not saying that if you participate in the selection of your successor that you’ve made a mistake. But I am saying that you should weigh and consider such things very carefully. Beware of the pitfalls, and if you’re motivated by personal concerns, then you should probably take a step back and trust Christ and let the church pick its next pastor on its own. Remember, it’s not your church, it’s Christ’s.”

Honor Thy Boomer. I appreciate what Samuel D. James says in this column at WORLD about the animosity between generations. “Christians have long understood the command to honor our father and mother as essential, and as a cornerstone of the moral law. Yet we also acknowledge what Scripture and nature both reveal: That the relationship between children and their parents changes with time. In other words, parents are entitled to lifelong honor from their children, but not lifelong power over the society.”

Defend the Doctrine of Original Sin Like It’s 1776. This is an interesting article that covers crucial doctrine and American history. “In the heady days of summer 1776, the Declaration of Independence, crafted and signed in Philadelphia, was publicly read in towns and villages across the American colonies. In Massachusetts, the governing authorities ordered that the Declaration be sent to ministers of every denomination and required every minister to read it to the congregants ‘as soon as divine Service is ended, in the afternoon, on the first Lord’s Day after they shall have received it.'”

Book Brief

Thankfully, Annie Jacobsen’s Biological War, a sequel of sorts to her Nuclear War, is not history, but unfortunately, it could be someday. She tells how many nations have developed biological weapons that are terrifying in their potential power to kill millions or even billions of people. She lays out a scenario in which one of these weapons could be unintentionally leaked, yet quickly spread across the world, bringing about mass death and unparalleled destruction. It is fictional, yet based on fact. It is not the cheeriest book you will ever read, but it is surprisingly gripping. (Amazon)

Flashback

The Great Stores of God’s Provision. As we look back on the race we ran, we will see that the God who planned our days, the God whose providence knew the end from the beginning, laid out his provision for us at exactly the points we most needed it, the points we would otherwise have been most likely to be disqualified. 

Sales & Deals

Today’s Kindle deals include books for preachers and those who listen to their sermons.

Andrew Wilson’s new book on happiness is on sale at Westminster Books if you’re looking for something new to read!

Recommended Reading

A Cheap Knockoff of Paganism. Here’s Carl Trueman on the latest from within the PCUSA: “Progressive Christianity, always a day late and at least a dollar short in its attempts to baptize the values of the wider secular culture, has constantly hoped that it can gain the respect of the world around it and maintain some vague form of Christian idiom for doing so. This summer the Presbyterian Church (USA) has continued that tradition. Yes, there are no doubt faithful ministers in the PCUSA. But the people with their hands on the levers of power do not seem to belong to that category.”

‘Hate Speech’ Law Already Having a Chilling Effect in Canada. I suppose Jonathon Van Maren’s article at The Bridgehead is at least peripherally related to Trueman’s in that it shows what happens as immorality becomes accepted and then celebrated. “After a decade of Liberal government, the slow erosion of freedom of speech has escalated. The latest example of this comes from the Edmonton Police. An X post last week included a link urging people to ‘report online hate’ with the message: ‘You typed it. Someone lived it. Online hate isn’t ‘just a comment.’ It hurts real people and harms real communities. Hate has no home here.'”

Blades of Eternity and the Curse of the Black Saber In book two of the Blades of Eternity series, Prince Mel and his brave band of allies embark on a dangerous quest to thwart the evil plans of the King of Winter and restore order to the Realm. (Sponsored)

Mutant Virtues. And then there would also be a connection to Jacob Crouch’s article on what he calls “mutant virtues.” “These mutant virtues parade themselves out in the public square as though they are the real thing. So-called justice, instead of being the righteousness of God on display, has become a call to defend sin in all its ugliness. Humility has been stripped of its sword, and mercy has been divorced from true justice. The mutant virtues, since they share the same name of the real thing, have begun to be redefined in the consciousness of the culture. What pass as love and justice and mercy today would be unrecognizable to Christ and His church even 100 years ago.”

Fix Your Attention Span, Biblically. Reagan Rose laments the decline of attention spans and calls upon his readers to fix them, biblically. “We’re told our brains have been ‘rewired,’ that it’s all about dopamine regulation, reward loops, and the like. And there is truth to this. Living in a fallen and cursed world, it shouldn’t surprise us that physical limitations plague us even in our ability to focus. And where it makes sense, we should address those physical problems. But my point is that is not the whole story. You are more than a brain. Often in our naturalistic, medicalized world we can forget that the heart plays a part in our attention too.”

An Ode to Books Left Unwritten. I enjoyed Joshua Budimlic’s ode to books and tribute to the joy of reading. “Like all great art, the very best of literature cannot be rightly appreciated on a single pass. To best understand an author like Tolkien, for example, you would do well to not only read The Lord of the Rings, but to live in the rich world he spent many decades crafting—to tarry amid the pages of Middle-Earth year after year by walking the well-worn paths of the Shire alongside Bilbo, perhaps stopping to share a pint and an evening’s rest with the Fellowship in Bree under the sign of The Prancing Pony, before journeying on once again to Rivendell for a spell of food, music, and best of all, rest.”

Let’s Stop Imaging Jesus. It occurred to me as I read this well-reasoned defense of not imaging Jesus that I have never read a defense of imaging him. Lots of people do it, of course, but I’ve never read anyone’s defense of the practice. So there’s a challenge: Defend the practice of picturing Jesus in art, books, film, and so on.

Reader Recommendations

Once a week, I like to ask what you recommend. What books, products, videos, sites, or experiences do you recommend to others who read this blog/newsletter? Let me know, and I’ll share a collection on Saturday. (If you’re reading this via email, you’ll need to visit my site to fill out the form. Go here to read last week’s recommendations.)

Flashback

When God Took Away: His Goodness in My Grief. There is a deep mystery to suffering. While the Bible makes it plain that we must expect to encounter times of sorrow and loss, of trial and grief, we often don’t know why these times come.

Welcome to Weekend A La Carte. I’ve got some interesting think pieces and long-form content below. After that, you’ll find recommendations from readers like you that cover podcasts, books, apps, sermons, and lots of other good stuff.

Before we get to any of that, let me express gratitude to Harvest House for sponsoring the blog this week. They wanted to be sure that you know about the new Gospel Way Catechism for Kids, a resource meant to build a strong biblical foundation and confidently navigate today’s culture.

Sales & Deals

Today’s Kindle deals include a collection of newer and older books. Be sure to scroll down and look at some of this week’s options since there were plenty of good ones that will be expiring by the end of the day.

Recommended Reading

Douglas Groothuis wrote an article against gambling this week and drew his argument largely from a theology of work. Essentially, he argues that God means for us to work for our money, not gamble for it. While I am adamantly against betting, I also don’t entirely disagree with Stephen Kneale, who says that, as far as he can see, most arguments against gambling are not entirely compelling or carefully proven from Scripture. “I cannot find anywhere in scripture that says gambling is wrong. I have looked. I have heard numerous arguments that claim it is morally wrong from a biblical perspective, but the arguments simply don’t seem to stack up.” So much like him, I have an instinct against gambling and think it must be wrong, even as I’m somewhat dissatisfied with the arguments Christians make. That’s perhaps especially true when we compare gambling to other sports, hobbies, or occupations.

So again, hear me: I am not endorsing gambling and do not gamble in any way. But I also wonder if Christians have been content with relatively weak arguments against gambling. I am very willing to be proven wrong. (And, indeed, one of the reader recommendations below is for another article on gambling.)

Read: Against Gambling and Is Gambling Sinful?

---

Kevin DeYoung has shared the first in a two-part series that tells what the Bible teaches about nations. He says that these articles are meant to be neither polemical nor academic, but to simply walk through biblical terminology while addressing what the Bible teaches about the nations and those who lead them. “Nation” is undoubtedly one of those terms for which we import our twenty-first-century understanding and thus potentially obscure the actual meaning.

The word “nation” or “nations” is common in our English Bible, with the singular noun occurring 155 times in the English Standard Version and the plural noun occurring 490 times. The word “nation” usually refers to the nation of Israel or another specific nation on the earth (e.g., Egypt). The word “nations” can refer specifically to non-Jewish (i.e., Gentile) peoples or simply to the totality of peoples around the world (inclusive of Jews). From the opening chapters of the Bible, we see that the nations are subject to God’s wrath, but also the object of God’s saving intentions. By the end of the Bible, we see as God’s people that our national identity is relativized by the far greater blessing of our heavenly citizenship. While the reality of each person’s earthly citizenship is not erased—now or in the life to come—the weight of the New Testament stresses that God’s redemptive kingdom no longer resides in any particular nation but in the multinational church of Jesus Christ.

Read: What Does the Bible Teach About Nations?

---

This week brought the news that columnist Ross Douthat is moving from the New York Times to 60 Minutes. Writing for Mere Orthodoxy, Jake Meador laments this and says it exposes a wider concern about columnists being remade into media personalities.

We have shifted into a media environment in which individuals are far more powerful than institutions. Columnists and essayists who are good at those roles have a tendency to build platforms that surpass their employer’s, in some ways. Over time they cease to be “columnists” or even “writers” and instead become “media personalities.” And as media personalities, they often have a kind of power that can rival or even surpass that of their employers. I expect that the Times will lose many subscribers over Douthat’s departure.

But we have seen this pattern play out many times before: Tucker Carlson left Fox News and while his audience is not as broad as it once was and he is somewhat quarantined on Twitter in a way he was not while at Fox, he still has a meaningful audience and clearly has a sustainable media operation behind him. Candace Owens’s departure from The Daily Wire played out in a similar way: Her audience is almost certainly larger at this point than that of her former boss Ben Shapiro, who has remained rooted in the institution he built. Obviously both Carlson and Owens are extremely different figures from Douthat. It may be that their commercial success as independent producers is not replicable because it depends on a particular sort of audience that is toxic enough to alienate anyone not already part of it and large enough to sustain some larger media operations. Douthat obviously will not profit from that same arrangement, nor would most other media figures.

Read: Ross Douthat and the Future of Digital Media.

---

Every organization that deals in writing is having to craft policies related to the use of AI. This week, The Gospel Coalition released its policy, which it described as “a line in the sand.”

It’s an offense to the word “writing” to apply it to AI-arranged words and sentences. What AI produces is an impressively polished, usually helpful, sometimes cheeky string of words. But it’s just instantaneous pattern recognition and data organization. It’s soulless slop that can mimic and masquerade as brilliant writing. It’s aggressively efficient, speedily rendered, sycophantic information.

But it’s not writing.

Even when it’s created at the behest of a human’s creative prompt and detailed parameters, and even when it’s just assisting a human who has real writing chops, AI-fashioned content doesn’t deserve to be called writing.

Hence, TGC allows AI to be used in only the most minimal of ways. Christianity Today crafted its own policy, and it’s quite similar. In both cases, the organizations have a full editorial team and process that allows them to do what individual writers cannot: discuss ideas together, outline them in community, get the feedback of an editor, and so on. Hence, I think those policies work well for those organizations, but I expect many individual writers may institute policies that are a bit looser.

Read: Our Line in the Sand on AI: TGC’s Missional Opportunity.

---

The Atlantic covers the phenomenon of people growing tired of influencers–a phenomenon most of us understand, I’m sure.

Influencers today are a bit like plastic surgeons, or plumbers: On a societal level, many people sure seem to like what they do—they just don’t necessarily want to be right next to them while they’re doing it.

But influencers are unique in how they seem to be everywhere, particularly in places where people are trying to do things other than be on their phone to watch influencers. Of course we love the game and hate the player: It’s much easier to be annoyed by individuals than by concepts, especially when those individuals are, often, pretty annoying.

You’d need to be pretty clueless to not feel a little weird about the online attention economy and all it entails—the vanity; the grift; the slop; the desperation; the calculated intimacy; the endless consumption; the creeping sense that everything and everyone is actually just there to make you feel kind of bad about yourself and then sell you something. Social media can, of course, unite like-minded people, but it can also reward the kind of tribalist reactionaryism that can conflate disliking some women with disliking all women, or make an anti-consumerist folk hero out of a store that sells $2,750 baskets. The industry that Paul and her cohort belong to is unquestionably grim—but the industry isn’t walking around town with a selfie stick. There’s a reason that the sign doesn’t say no influencing, but rather no influencers.

Read: The Extras Are Tired.

Reader Recommendations

Every week I ask readers what they recommend. (Check Monday A La Carte if you’d like to have a say.) Here are some of this week’s recommendations:

Joshua recommends the sermon “According to the Election of Grace” by Elder Ward. He says, “Listening left me deeply encouraged and delighting in God for the beauty and necessity of election. Soul-stirring fire here.” (At the very least, watch for a couple of minutes beginning at 50 minutes.)

Karen enjoys the RISE leadership podcast for leadership and development. “It offers insight and actionable takeaways to make a Christ-centered impact in your church and life.”

Matthew and Andrea both use Versify, a Bible memorization app that gives flexibility in what and how you memorize Scripture.

Maria says, “My family has seriously enjoyed and has been blessed by the From the Rising of the Sun documentary by Tim Challies & Tim Keese. They did a wonderful job of showing us that every Sunday we are worshiping with family around the world!” It’s free with the book, so check the inside front cover if you already have a copy.

Michael recommends Zotero, a free app “that easily catalogues any print books, ebooks, logos books, blogs, pdfs, videos, podcasts, charts, or anything else you want to organize, with just an ISBN or webpage.”

Darcy votes for the audiobook of Murder on the Orient Express, narrated by Kenneth Branagh. “He does an excellent (and amusing) job with the wide-ranging cast of characters!”

David remembers that, a number of years ago, Phil Johnson had an exceptional series of articles about gambling. “Highly recommend reading those … and recommend that a publisher pesters Johnson into turning them into a book.”

Chris recommends Grant, Ron Chernow’s biography of Ulysses S. Grant. “This work does an excellent job showing Grant, his strengths and weaknesses, and how they played out in his life. I came away with significantly more respect for one of the most important figures in American history.”

Scott likes The Heart Taken Up: 90 Days with the Puritans by Stephen Yuille published by Reformation Heritage Books.

Summer “recently read Made for Friendship by Drew Hunter and found myself very encouraged and walked away with a better perspective and understanding of the value of friendship with others and with our God!”

Samantha shares that her “friend Hannah has shared this devotional with me and it has been so helpful to realign my mind first thing in the morning. Yesterday’s guest was J.E. Tada, who has been a source of godly encouragement to my heart through the years.”

Mike thinks you should read Sammy and His Shepherd, a children’s book by Susan Hunt.

Flashback

We Must, We Can, Bloom for Him. No matter what unfolds around us and no matter what is done to us, we are able to bloom for him—to display the truest love, the greatest gentleness, the highest reaches of Christian character.

Sales & Deals

Today’s Kindle deals include titles on wonder, beauty, Christmas, and the call to ministry.

Recommended Reading

The Mark of the Beast. Only in heaven will we definitively know what 666 represents. In the meantime, it is good for us to attempt to wisely interpret it. Steven Wedgeworth offers his take on it here. “666 is one of the most infamous symbols from the Bible. It has taken root in the broader cultural imagination, and it often pops up in all kinds of ‘evil bad guy’ places: heavy metal artwork, street gangs, hate groups, etc. But in context, it’s meant to be a warning to the Christian church how they can avoid worshiping the beast.”

Did Jephthah Really Sacrifice His Daughter? Speaking of interpretive difficulties, everyone who has read through the book of Judges has wondered: Did Jephthah really sacrifice his daughter? Theologian Mitch Chase takes a look at the evidence and draws a reasonable conclusion. (You don’t need to read part one of this two-parter, but it would give you context.)

The Gospel Way Catechism for Kids. Based on its adult counterpart, this innovative question-and-answer book equips parents and Bible teachers with a tool to help middle-grade children grasp the truth of God’s Word and recognize the many mistruths present in today’s culture. (Sponsored)

My Side of the Bed Is Cold. Kimberly Wagner explains why she and her husband can no longer share a bed. She also laments what they’ve lost due to some of God’s hard providences. I link to it both because I appreciate her trust in God and love for her husband, but also because I think there are lots of couples who can no longer share a bed for any number of reasons and they may be encouraged by it.

The Marital Conflict Multi-tool. Joe Smith describes what he calls a marital conflict multi-tool. His implementation of it is quite formal, but it may be a good thing to implement in your marriage even in a less formal way. “Do you and your spouse struggle with working through marital conflicts? Is your communication about offenses, issues, and disagreements often hindered by sinful anger and frustration on either or both of your parts? If so, what if there was a single practice or ‘tool’ that could significantly help you and your spouse work through your conflicts more calmly and gently, negotiate disagreements more successfully, and grow in godly communication overall? Would you be willing to give it a try?”

When Pain Has Purpose. Katie Polski offers encouragement to those who are enduring difficulties. “What would it look like to stop viewing suffering as an inconvenient detour…as an awful back road you just have to survive to reach something better? What if instead you saw your pain as part of your life with Christ… as part of belonging to his family?”

Counting Blessings. “Blessings aren’t always what they seem, which brings me to an important question: What does it mean to be blessed by God? How might we misunderstand God’s blessings? Thankfully, and in contrast to Southern culture, God’s blessings are always actual blessings. In fact, it’s impossible for us to fully comprehend the extent of God’s blessings toward his children. If we err, we err on the side of underestimating them.” Casey McCall wants to help you think about your blessings.

The Funnies

My friend Chris Martin maintains a Substack called The Funnies, and every Saturday he shares a few fun and silly things he found on the Internet—something I see as a modern equivalent to the comics pages that used to be in every newspaper. I asked him to share a couple with you.

Flashback

Sometimes “Love Your Enemy” Means “Love Your Spouse”. We can very quickly let our marriages slide into a kind of transactional relationship where instead of thinking first about what we can give, we think first about what we can get. 

Sales & Deals

Today’s Kindle deals include some choice titles like Christopher Ash’s The Book Your Pastor Wishes You Would Read. I’ve also included a bunch of commentaries that are all theologically sound while also being relatively easy to read.

You’ll find a couple of noteworthy deals at Westminster Books: Dave Harvey’s The Clay Pot Conspiracy and Vern Poythress’ Making Sense of Creation & Fall.

Recommended Reading

What Unique Platform Has God Given You to Glorify Him? Randy Alcorn wants you to know that God has given you a unique platform to glorify him. “So if God has wired you to be good at what you do—whether business or art, manufacturing or farming, music or medicine, or anything that allows you to freely help the needy and further the cause of Christ—rejoice! This is a great use of your life. No matter who you are, God has given you your physical and mental and spiritual gifts to provide you a platform from which to draw attention to Him.”

You Are Not Enough (And That Is Not Failure). Hannah Hagarty: “These limitations as a mother reveal my weakness in comparison to Christ’s all-sufficient power and perfection. He alone is the source of our salvation. When I reach the end of my own resources and fully surrender, I am reminded of Christ’s declaration to Paul, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’. I confess: ‘I am weak. I am weak. I am weak.’ I am not enough, and yet this is not failure but an invitation to trust the One who is.”

Are You as Connected to the Church as You Want to Be? Benjamin Vrbicek asks whether you are as connected to the local church as you want to be. “I have found that the biggest wet blanket in pastoral ministry is not people who leave our church with a big stink, making all kinds of noise after all kinds of meetings. I mean, I don’t love that. But vocal departures have the advantage of bringing clarity; they don’t leave me wondering if restrictions existed and, if so, what they were.”

There Is Almost Always a Need Behind the Need. This is a good reminder from Michael Kelley that there is always a need behind the need. “There is almost always a need behind the need, one that we often are not aware of or at least not ready to acknowledge when we experience our own kind of trouble. We find ourselves in pain, or desperation, or in need of something in the moment, and we call out to the Lord. But most of the time, there is a need behind the need. So let’s say, by way of example, that you are out of work, and so you pray that God would provide you a job.”

We Don’t Have to Turn Every Bit of Art Into a Jesus Juke. Stephen Kneale overstates things here, but I’m quite sure that’s a deliberate writing technique to help him make a good point. “Whatever film comes out, particularly if it is well regarded, long-awaited or just a big budget film, you can bet your bottom dollar Christians will write articles and blogs mining it for allusions to the gospel or to make some sort of serious Christian point. And I’m just going to say it: I’m pretty sick of Christians ruining every film by turning it into a Jesus juke.”

Love Keeps No Record of Wrongs. “Wait! Don’t stop reading! I know what you’re thinking. ‘We’ve all heard this before. Why even write on this?’ Because you need to hear it. Because I need to hear it. So you’ve heard it before? Good. Listen close then. If you really want to show Christian love, then something has to happen when ‘wrongs’ occur.” I agree—don’t let yourself just pass over this one.

Poetry

Do you enjoy poetry? Here are a few poems I’ve bookmarked over the past couple of weeks.

• The Last Summer by Havalah Peirce is about the sadness of summer’s end.
• A Given by Seth Lewis is about not taking life for granted.
• Kevin Twit surfaces a classic from James Montgomery: Our Saviour’s Prayers.

Flashback

We Cannot Be Faultless (But May Still Be Blameless). We may well be blameless before the Lord when we do our work to the best of our ability and when we do our utmost to cleanse our hearts and purify our motives. God accepts and treasures such work, not because it is perfect, but because it proceeds from faith and love.

Welcome to today’s A La Carte. It’s a joy to put together this curated collection of links each day, and I thank you for reading it!

You may know that I maintain a Best Commentaries page where I list the best commentaries on each book of the Bible according to the recommendations of expert scholars and theologians. I regularly update that page, but did an especially big update yesterday. The same is true of the Commentaries on Sale page.

Sales & Deals

Today’s Kindle deals include books on doubt, masculinity, ministry, Satan, Jesus’ parables, and more.

Recommended Reading

Sophie Cunningham Is Tearing Down Transgender Lies, but Only God’s People Can Offer Up His Truth. Jon Dykstra writes about Sophie Cunningham and her stand against transgenderism. “We should admire Cunningham for her courage, and Travis for being willing to back his stand with big bucks. But what the world needs to hear now is the clarity that only God’s Word offers. Why is it so stupid for men to play against women? And why does the world have to pretend otherwise? It’s because they’ve rejected God’s Word, and that’s left them without any foundation to stand on.”

Against Gambling. Douglas Groothuis: “How should a Christian understand gambling? Gambling is an activity in which someone puts up money, goods, or services on the chance of being rewarded by unknown outcomes by the gambler. I do not mean the investment of money, goods, services. By ‘chance,’ I mean unknown outcomes not determined by the gambler, not chance in the metaphysical sense of being beyond the control or knowledge of God (Ephesians 1:11; Psalm 139-1-3). There is no such thing. But consider examples of gambling.”

The Gospel Way Catechism for Kids. Based on its adult counterpart, this innovative question-and-answer book equips parents and Bible teachers with a tool to help middle-grade children grasp the truth of God’s Word and recognize the many mistruths present in today’s culture. (Sponsored)

Three Ways to Know I Am a Real Christian. Many people struggle with assurance that they are Christians. Stephen Kneale writes for them and offers three ways to know you are truly saved. “It is a common question from earnest and sincere people: how can I know I am a Christian? There are all sorts of answers we might give, some probably more helpful than others. But it would make most sense to look at the scriptures and see some of the signs it would highlight. So, to that end, here are three biblical signs that you are a genuine Christian.”

Struggle Against Sin Doesn’t Signal Defeat. This article nicely complements the last one. Some people struggle with assurance because they struggle with sin. Yet as Ashley Anthony says here, struggling against sin does not signal defeat.

Please Don’t Pray for Me. Writing on behalf of parents who long for their children to be saved, Tessa Lind asks whether such parents should honor the request that they don’t pray for their children. “Just five years ago, we sat in the same spot, my arm outstretched and her head on my shoulder. I was a safe place. I was a comforter, a listening ear, a trusted friend. I led her to the Rock that is higher than I. I didn’t have all the answers to the questions she was asking, but I showed her where the answers could be found. We walked down many roads together. As the teen years hit, the roads became bumpy. We hit potholes, and she let go of my hand. The road crumbled, and she let go of Jesus.”

PowerWash Simulator and the Yearning to Work. Did you know that one of the most popular video games today is a powerwash simulator? John Ehrett asks some good questions about this: What does it say about us, our nation, and our economy that over 17 million people now spend hours playing a simulator in which they do decent blue collar work?

Enjoying

Audible. Once a year, Audible offers me a free or almost free membership that lasts between 1 and 3 months (and, therefore, offers between 1 and 3 free books). I always take advantage of this, then cancel it. Most recently, I listened to An Inconvenient Widow and enjoyed it a lot. (You can check here to see if you can get the same offer.)

CSB. I am a longtime reader of the ESV, but over the past few months have been using the CSB for my devotions. I have found it mostly refreshing. The CSB holds to a similar translation philosophy as the ESV, but often states things more plainly. I would disagree with a few of their choices, but overall, I have found that it enhances my understanding of many passages, in part because I’m so familiar with the ESV that I have to debate the differences in my mind.

ESV API. Let me give a little shoutout to the ESV for giving such ready access to its API. The API allows other apps to connect to the ESV and use its data. I have found that extremely helpful in some of the different apps I use or have created for my own purposes. Many of the other Bible translations offer their API only to paid users or through third-party services, but ESV makes it as easy as can be. I appreciate that and take advantage of it often.

Your Recommendations

Every week, I like to ask what you recommend. What books, products, videos, sites, or experiences do you recommend to others who read this blog/newsletter? Let me know, and I’ll share a collection on Saturday. (If you’re reading this via email, you’ll need to visit my site to fill out the form. Go here to read last week’s recommendations.)

Flashback

A Child of His Care. I’d like you to keep reading so I can tell you about Ronda—sweet Ronda who just went to be with Jesus. I am certain you will find yourself blessed and encouraged if you press on.

Sales & Deals

Today’s Kindle deals include some strong choices like Respectable Sins, Live Your Truth and Other Lies, and a few volumes in the excellent Gospel in the Old Testament series from P&R.

Logos users will want to look at this month’s free and nearly free books. On the main page, on the slides that change every few seconds, you can find information about some other deals, like up to 50% off certain titles and an August sale.

Recommended Reading

Twenty Two & Engaged. I enjoyed Karis Lai’s article on finding herself almost surprised to be engaged at a relatively young age. “While I was aware of idolatry at either end of the spectrum, I was not immune to the pulls of culture on either side, and felt oddly stuck in the middle of both. It seemed like I was somehow betraying my Asian Americanness and prestigious education by choosing to get married so young without having a clear 25 year plan. At the same time, I stuck out like a sore thumb amidst the broader Texas ‘ring-by-spring’ culture: I hadn’t planned a wedding Pinterest board since I was eight, I didn’t know about the ‘something borrowed, something blue’ trend.”

The Unwelcome Intruder. Kimberly Wagner writes about an intruder many of us will encounter. “He creeps in slowly. He works silently and his theft is hardly noticed. He’s stealthy and insidious. His tactics are unique to each individual case, but as he steals valuable assets from a loved one it always results in the same loss. Dementia is an unwelcome intruder. It robs our loved one of their memories and often their recognition of faces most dear to them. It removes mental clarity and often personality as our loved one morphs into an unrecognizable character.”

The Porn Buster. Barry York: “During thirty-five years of pastoral ministry, one of the greatest plagues on men, marriages, and the church is pornography. Porn is so prevalent that I have had to devote significant time to counseling and teaching on it. At RPTS, I have sections of pastoral classes in which I address this subject. As the president, I have had to discipline students over it. The RPTS and church community know that I label this topic Pornolatry, for Christians indulging in pornography is not just a problem of immorality – it is a worship problem. The pornolatrist is an idolatrist.”

What the Spurgeon Family Scandal Teaches Us About Failure. Someone recently unearthed a scandal in Charles Spurgeon’s family, and Rob Tervet explains what it can teach us about failure. “It explains why Charles was raised by his grandparents from such a young age and why John so sternly warned his son about the dangers of debt—which also explains why Charles repudiated debt. But it’s a devotionally rich finding as well. This unlikely ground zero for the greatest preacher of the 19th century reminds us of wonderful truths.”

Pastoral Time Guilt. “Every pastor knows the feeling. You leave the hospital wondering whether you should have stayed in your study. You leave your study wondering whether you should have visited another family. You finally sit down with your wife and children only to remember the unanswered emails, the counseling appointment you need to schedule, or the sermon that still feels unfinished. Ministry has a way of convincing us that wherever we are is exactly where we should not be. The result is a quiet burden many faithful pastors carry every day: time guilt.” Joe Keller offers encouragement to pastors who feel that guilt.

What About Animal Suffering? Some skeptics consider animal suffering an unsolvable problem for Christians. Greg Koukl explains why it isn’t. “It would require near omniscience to affirm that there is no good reason for God to create a world that included suffering. Who could know that with any confidence? By contrast, evidences for God’s existence are legion. Clearly, the premise “God exists” enjoys the most support. Thus, the second argument is the most credible, and the charge that suffering is gratuitous is deflected significantly.”

Book Short

Lois Romano’s An Inconvenient Widow is a fascinating and even-handed biography of Mary Todd Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln’s wife suffered deeply in life. She lost three of her four sons, witnessed her husband’s assassination, was unfairly confined to an asylum by her remaining son, and had her reputation savaged. After all this, and much more, she went down in history as an ignominious figure. Yet Romano is convinced the record has been unfair. While she doesn’t defend her subject’s many shortcomings, she does emphasize her virtues and show how she was treated especially poorly, both in her day and in the century-and-a-bit that has followed. She shows how she likely suffered from issues related to mental health, how she was not afforded sympathy for her grievous losses, and how so many people simply loved to hate her. This book helps show what Lincoln loved and admired about his wife and redeems a reputation that has been unjustly besmirched. (Learn more at Amazon)

Flashback

The Financial and Spiritual Principle of Compound Interest. The lessons learned on a mother’s knee, the principles taught in family devotions, and the catechism questions memorized in Sunday school are the small amounts of principal that can grow and expand into spiritual riches throughout a lifetime.

Good morning. Grace and peace to you.

My weekend went in an unexpected direction when an elderly relative in Quebec needed assistance after experiencing some medical issues. I drove here a few days ago and am holding down the fort until my mother can make the journey from Georgia to take over. This time has been a blessing in many ways, and I’m thankful for it.

Sales & Deals

Today’s Kindle deals include some excellent books for younger (or older!) readers: 12 Truths Every Teen Can Trust, Scrolling Ourselves to Death, and Surviving Religion 101, among others.

Recommended Reading

For the Joy of Japan. Ten years after a tragic accident that claimed the lives of an entire family, Brett Rayl remembers them and expresses his confidence in the Lord. “A picture of the family, taken shortly before their passing, still hangs in my office: Jamison and Kathryne seated on a porch, smiling, their arms filled with three precious, small children — Ezra, Violet, and Calvin. When I arrive at work and see the photo, I feel their loss afresh, ten years later.” (You can see my first mention of that family in an A La Carte post from 10 years ago.)

Do You Really See Those Around You? “Those with disabilities are all around you. From the visible disabilities like those with mobility challenges to the invisible disabilities often ignored, undiagnosed, or mislabeled. I am not asking you to become a doctor or to try and diagnose everyone but you need to see everyone made in the image of God for who they are.” There’s the challenge: To really see those around you.

The Gospel Way Catechism for Kids. Based on its adult counterpart, this innovative question-and-answer book equips parents and Bible teachers with a tool to help middle-grade children grasp the truth of God’s Word and recognize the many mistruths present in today’s culture. (Sponsored)

The Slow Drift of Sexual Intimacy in Marriage. Though some of this article speaks specifically to the context of India, its principles apply far beyond. Karan Thomas writes, “Most marriages do not collapse overnight; they erode quietly. Between demanding careers, long commutes, financial pressure, and the constant pull of a screen, husbands and wives can become excellent managers of a shared life while becoming strangers to one another. They share a home, a table, even a bed, and still feel miles apart.”

Gutting Old Books to Feed AI: What Could Go Wrong? Last week we learned that AI companies are buying up millions of books so they can scan them and use them to train their AI. The reason is ironic: They value writing they can be certain was created by people rather than AI. “This is almost a metaphor for AI’s destructive relationship to literary culture. But there’s even greater irony in the reason why AI companies prefer old books for training — it’s because they want to avoid contaminating their bots with AI slop. I wish they had the same concern for us.”

Justice and Clemency. Stephen Kneale: “For the most part, it seems, not many people can imagine forgiving their child’s killer, ever, under any circumstances. Many cannot fathom how this couple manage it. The overwhelming noise, however, is how unjust it all seems. Not only how can they forgive this man, but why would they. There is rage against the criminal justice system, rage that he should be let out of prison at all, rage that this family dare to defy justice and forgive him. Many are particularly angry that this horrible killer might go on to have any sort of life at all, especially when his victim has no such chance. People seem angry at forgiveness and are adamant there is no redemption for such filthy, rotten sinners as this.”

“This I Call to Mind”. Mary Nolte calls to mind what matters most. “Caring for my mom as she is slowly lost to this disease has been one of the more difficult sorrows of my life, everyday a new challenge brought on by its cruel progression. Sometimes the grief of it is overwhelming, coming on unexpectedly as there is the daily disappearance of one who has been a steady presence in my life for the whole of my life, having a front row seat to precious memories now scattered.”

Your Recommendations

Once a week, I like to ask what you recommend. What books, products, videos, sites, or experiences do you recommend to others who read this blog/newsletter? Let me know, and I’ll share a collection on Saturday. (If you’re reading this via email, you’ll need to visit my site to fill out the form. Go here to read last week’s recommendations.)

Flashback

One of the Greatest Challenges We Will Ever Face. If we truly love Jesus, we will love the body of Jesus, the people of Jesus, the church of Jesus.