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God is good all the time – “We are not self-existent, therefore any goodness we have must come from an outside source, namely God. Because we cannot see good as He does, when inevitable trials come our way, His goodness may not feel good at all….Part of understanding God’s goodness to us is realizing that His good works toward eternal purposes, not our momentary comfort and satisfaction.  If God’s good happens to result in a good we would choose for ourselves, is entirely because He wants it to be so.”

The Spreading Goodness – “And therein lies the very goodness of the gospel: as the Father is the lover and the Son the beloved, so Christ becomes the lover and the church the beloved. That means that Christ loves the church first and foremost: his love is not a response, given only when the church loves him; his love comes first, and we only love him because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).”

Recommended Biographies of Christian Women – This looks like a great list of biographies to add to your “books to read” list. if you are interested in learning more about the life and faith of saints who have gone before us, I encourage you to check it out.

Misrepresenting the Person & Work of Christ – “This is the constant danger when we don’t simply open the Scriptures and listen to their testimony about Jesus: we make a Jesus in our own image, usually domesticated. Sadly, much that dominates the Christian media seems to fall foul here. Any Jesus who isn’t both Savior and Lord, Sacrificial Lamb of God and Reigning King, cannot be the Jesus of the Gospels. And any Jesus who does not call us to radical, sacrificial, and yes, painful, discipleship, cannot be the real Jesus.”

The Role of Beauty – “In today’s world, many are sincerely inspired by nature. They love long walks, visits to the country, and absorbing the beauties of the world around. They often make nature an end in itself. They celebrate its magnificence, but are left to see it all as a random outcome of chance and necessity. Some Christians, through neglect, do much the same thing.”
Honest to God – This book by Joshua Weldman is available for free in the Kindle edition. (H/T)

Grace for Our Imperfections – “It’s common to discuss singleness as a symptom that requires a diagnosis. But the pervasive questions of this season shouldn’t be, ‘What am I doing wrong? Why am I still single?’ But instead, ‘Am I living in submission to Christ? Is His grace evidently at work in me?”

How Do I Dispose of An Old Bible? – I appreciated Tim Challies’ thoughtful response to this practical question.

Hospitality & The Great Commission – “In a progressively post-Christian society, the importance of hospitality as an evangelistic asset is growing rapidly. Increasingly, the most strategic turf on which to engage the unbelieving with the good news of Jesus may be the turf of our own homes.”

What Do I Owe the Person Who Differs from Me? – In this season of political and social debate, this post may be especially apropos.

Two Bits About Busyness – “To conquer busyness we need not only to set priorities, but to respect that others must set them too. This means understanding when people say no. It sometimes means not asking in the first place. Obviously, we shouldn’t say no to everything. We should be inconvenienced at times. It’s not always wrong to press someone for a favorable response. But simply remembering that most everyone else feels as busy as you do could do a lot to help everyone’s feeling of busyness. ”

How Church Can Be LIke Doctor Shopping – Written for pastors, this should make all of us think about how we consider church discipline.