Dates, Doctrines & Dead People – “The deeper I have investigated the history of the church the more I have grown to appreciate the power and authority of the Word of God — because I have seen that power vividly illustrated in the testimonies of generations of believers. Scripture alone is the authority for all we believe and do; but history provides wonderful affirmation of the truthfulness of those foundational biblical truths.” (H/T)
Jesus Worked a “Secular” Job – “[I]f we stop and think about Jesus’ life, we see that he was doing so-called secular work as a carpenter or a fisherman for many more years than he was a preacher and teacher.”
The Joy of Discipleship – “Cross-carrying is not “happy go lucky” stuff. And yet, the love of Christ — love for Christ — for the Christian is seen as a more delightful experience than all the world’s charms and flesh-feedings. The very reason we take up our cross is not because dutiful religion is more fun than no religion but because we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, that taking up our cross is better; it’s more freeing, not less. The yoke and burden Christ offers is easy and light.”
Where Missionaries Are Sent From and Where They Go To – “The CSGC reports that ‘of the ten countries sending the most missionaries in 2010, three were in the global South: Brazil, South Korea, and India.” Other notable missionary senders included South Africa, the Philippines, Mexico, China, Colombia, and Nigeria.’ (H/T)
But He Is Not My Neighbor – “I think we’ve inadvertently taken the parable [of The Good Samaritan] and restricted the meaning of our “neighbor” in the other direction, thus doing the very thing Jesus is forbidding. We’ve come to think that our neighbor is only a person inextreme need — the person bleeding on the side of the road. But what about the person who is not bleeding on the side of the road, but has other, much smaller but still very real needs?”
Get Rid of These 6 Things – “Getting things done has always been difficult. Whether it is more difficult today than in days past is a matter of speculation and hardly worth the effort. What is clear, though, is that we have many things, some good and some bad, competing for our time and attention. I believe a key to productivity today is a willingness to exercise self-control by refusing a lot of the capabilities our devices offer us. Maybe you should consider getting rid of these 6 things.”
Kindle Deal: Tactics – I’m currently reading Greg Koukl’s Tactics and it is great. The Kindle edition is on sale for $1.99.