Blogs

Online Friendships Are Not Enough | Phillip Holmes, Desiring God
“While online friends are indeed real people for whom we may have genuine affection, it’s essentially impossible for them to actually know the real you. This doesn’t mean these friendships have to be ended, but they do need to be regulated.”

A Survey of Male-Only Ordination in Key New Testament Texts | Richard D. Phillips, Reformation21 Blog
“The biblical teaching on male-only ordination is not reasonably in doubt. What is in doubt is our commitment to the authority of Scripture in the face of mounting cultural demands.”

Overcoming Anger | Joe Thorn, For The Church
“One of the most influential books to help me in this area of overcoming anger was Matthew Henry’s Quest for Meekness and Quietness of Spirit.”

How to Help the Suicidal | Josh Squires, Desiring God
“How do we respond to someone contemplating suicide? With loving compassion and winsome honesty. ”

Should Christians Support Gun Control? | Thomas S. Kidd, TGC
“It is unseemly for Christians to be pro-gun zealots who automatically say ‘no’ to even the most modest reforms. Yet we also know the nature of man, and the nature of governments. Sometimes, as a people and a nation, we must confront forces of violence by using armed force in return.”

Sorry, Jen Hatmaker: Christians Aren’t Complicit in Orlando| Derryck Green, Juicy Ecumenism
“Christians who stand against redefining marriage and the homosexualization of our culture are deliberately and dishonestly conflated with ‘hate,’ ‘dishonor’ and being ‘anti-LGBTQ,’ none of which is accurate.”

Rule Requires Doctors To Treat Trans Patients As Pretend Sex | Maria Servold, The Federalist
“The consequences of a doctor’s decision not to treat a patient acting like the opposite sex now range from loss of federal funding to civil lawsuits to potential criminal investigation.”

Kindle Books

For your non-Kindle book buying needs please consider using Reformation Heritage Books in the USA and Reformed Book Services in Canada. Good value prices and shipping.

A Fistful of Heroes by John Pollock ($2.99)

Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church by Michael Horton ($2.51)

David Brainerd: A Flame for God by Vance Christie ($1.99)

I’m devoting the next few weeks to working on a project that’s going to demand most of my mental energy. So apart from the usual Mon-Fri Checkout which will continue, I won’t be writing an additional daily article. Instead, I’m going to post a series of daily devotionals on Hosea that I wrote a few years ago.

“I will hedge up your way with thorns” (Hosea 2:6).

When God cursed the ground on account of the first sin, He promised that it would bring forth thorns. Thorns, then, are an emblem of difficulty resulting from sin. But, there is often mercy even in God’s harshest judgments. Without the “thorns” of difficulty that scratch us, pierce us, and pain us, would we ever hate the sin which caused them? Would we ever want to be free from the sin of this world? Would we ever cry out for our wounds to be healed and our pains relieved?

Israel had strayed from God’s path and sought her own path. She had broken down God’s fences and was wandering in her own way. But, instead of just leaving His people to wander farther and farther away until they were out of sight and out of mind, God promised, “I will hedge up your way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.” In mercy, God would send difficulties into Israel’s life that would scratch, pierce, and pain her so that she would be stopped in her tracks, and prevented from going any farther.

Many Christians have come up against the thorn-filled hedges of God in their lives. They have strayed from God’s path, jumped God’s fences, and traveled far from Him, often without serious immediate consequences. They have said, “I will follow my lovers.” But, after watching from afar for a time, God eventually responds, “I will hedge up your way with thorns.”

Our great and good Shepherd sends pain-filled difficulties into our lives to frustrate our sinful desires and directions. Perhaps your ambition made an idol of your job. But now you have lost your job. God has hedged up your way with thorns. Perhaps you were proud of your family. But now a son has rebelled against you. God has hedged up your way with thorns. Perhaps vanity was puffing you up. But now God has sent disease into your body. God has hedged up your way with thorns.

These are painful experiences which pierce deep into our hearts and minds. But they are sent in love to stop us from going farther away, to make us examine our wounds, to cry for help and healing, and to turn us back to God’s pathway. Whatever we do, let’s stop trying to get through the hedge!

Blogs

The 8 Digital Productivity Tools Everyone Should Adopt | Alexandra Samuel, Harvard Business Review
“These eight technologies are the sites, programs and features I wish every computer user would start using today. Every single one of them is available in a free version.”

Balancing Ministry and Family Time | Jason K. Allen, For The Church
“Brother pastors, if a church expects us to win at ministry while losing at home we are right to push back. Let us not neglect our families, but let us not hide behind them either. We can have—indeed we must have—strong families and strong ministries. And let us be willing to die to ourselves, forgoing some of our personal pleasures and privileges, so that we can have just that.”

Your Ministry Is Not a Sprint | Stephen Miller, TGC
“I learned five lessons that taught me ministry is a marathon and not a sprint.  ”

What Judges Teaches the Church | W. Robert Godfrey, Ligonier
“The book of Judges is a mirror held up to the church that forces us to ask ourselves, “Is Jesus our king and do we live by faith in His Word?” If the answer is yes, the church from generation to generation will know the Lord.”

The Humble Leader | Kevin DeYoung, TGC
Kevin DeYoung quotes John Calvin: “Let then, God’s servants learn to measure carefully their powers, lest they should wear out, by ambitiously embracing too many occupations.”

Kindle Books

For your non-Kindle book buying needs please consider using Reformation Heritage Books in the USA and Reformed Book Services in Canada. Good value prices and shipping.

The Reign of Grace: The Delights and Demands of God’s Love by Scotty Smith ($3.99)

Teach Us to Want: Longing, Ambition and the Life of Faith by Jen Pollock Michel ($2.99)

The Listening Life: Embracing Attentiveness in a World of Distraction by Adam S. McHugh ($2.99)

Letters to a Young Calvinist: An Invitation to the Reformed Tradition by James K. A. Smith ($1.99)

Blogs

Productivity in a Digital World by Tim Challies | Ligonier Ministries
Tim Challies explains the ways technology can be used effectively to get things done for the good of others and the glory of God.

I Forbid You To Say These Things at My Funeral | Tim Challies
“Here are a few things I sincerely hope no one will say about me at my funeral or any time thereafter. In fact, I hereby forbid it. ”

Nine Prayers for the Not-Yet-Married | Marshall Segal, Desiring God
“If you don’t know where to start in prayer — how to begin talking to God daily, or how to surrender your desires and difficulties in singleness to him — here are nine prayers for the not-yet-married life, each with God’s words to help shape your longing and waiting.”

Limited Atonement and Unlimited Announcement | Joseph Franks, Daily Devotions
“do not allow the biblical doctrine of particular redemption or limited atonement to stifle your evangelistic zeal and practice.”

A Christian Response to Terrorism: An Interview with R. C. Sproul | Renewing Your Mind

Steps to Take When You’re Starting to Feel Burned Out | Monique Valcour, Harvard Business Review
“Research shows that burnout has three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. ”

Kindle Books

For your non-Kindle book buying needs please consider using Reformation Heritage Books in the USA and Reformed Book Services in Canada. Good value prices and shipping.

Redeeming Science: A God-Centered Approach by Vern S. Poythress ($4.99)

Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ by Robert Bowman and J. Ed Komoszewski (FREE)

Incomparable: Explorations in the Character of God by Andrew Wilson ($0.99)

I’m devoting the next few weeks to working on a project that’s going to demand most of my mental energy. So apart from the usual Mon-Fri Checkout which will continue, I won’t be writing an additional daily article. Instead, I’m going to post a series of daily devotionals on Hosea that I wrote a few years ago.

“I will go after my lovers” (Hosea 2:5).

God’s “I will” is always coming into conflict with our “I will.” Instead of, “Not my will, but your will be done,” we assert, “Not your will, but my will be done.” Instead of asking God, “What will you have me to do?” we, as it were, look God in the eye and wonder, “What will I have you to do?”

Hosea’s repeated re-assertion of the “I will of God” was rendered necessary by the daringly disobedient “I will” of Israel. Here, Hosea portrays Israel as a wife with a perfect husband. He lovingly brings her home all she needs. He opens the door and puts bread, water, wool, flax, oil, and drink on the table. She takes all these gifts and packs them away in her cupboards. But then she walks straight past her loving husband without so much as a “thank you,” and walks out the door, saying, “I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.”

Israel took the loving gifts and ignored the loving Giver. Worse, she attributed the loving gifts to the enemies and opponents of the loving Giver. And then, as if that was not bad enough, she turned her back on the loving Giver, and went to praise and party with “lovers” who were actually enemies not only of herself but also of the loving Giver.

Confused believer, surely you must confess that you have re-enacted this scene many times in your life. The Lord has been a perfect Husband to you and has richly blessed you in His love. But, instead of saying “I will go after my Lover,” you have said, “I will go after my lovers.” You have taken His gifts and ignored Him.

How many times have you bypassed opportunities to worship and pray in order to go after worldly pastimes and pleasures? Are these your lovers? What has TV ever done for your soul? Did sport die for you? Does music ever live to make intercession for you? Does your investment portfolio love you with an everlasting love? Have your friends laid down their lives for you? Turn away from what is turning you away from Christ. Resolve by His grace, “I will go after my Lover.”

I’m devoting the next few weeks to working on a project that’s going to demand most of my mental energy. So apart from the usual Mon-Fri Checkout which will continue, I won’t be writing an additional daily article. Instead, I’m going to post a series of daily devotionals on Hosea that I wrote a few years ago.

“I will avenge” (Hosea 1:4).

The “I will” of God dominates the book of Hosea. The phrase appears over seventy times in fourteen chapters. A few times, it appears in the negative “I will not,” and tells us what God will not do. Mostly, it is stated positively and tells us what God will do to and for His people.

There are two main classes of “I will” statements in Hosea. The first class is judgmental and reveals God’s resolute determination to chastise His erring people. The second and largest class is redemptive and reveals God’s emphatic determination to restore His chastised people to the fullest possible experience of His love.

God’s people need both of these divine “I wills” in their lives. Both are rooted in God’s love, both reveal God’s love, and both result in God’s love being shed abroad in the heart. Without the “I will avenge,” we would become complacent and cold. Without the “I will allure,” we would give in and give up. Sometimes we need to hear the solemn “I will avenge.” Sometimes we need to hear the soothing “I will allure.” The Christian’s life oscillates between these two poles. Indeed, it might be said that we are constantly experiencing either “I will allure” or “I will avenge.”

Here, Hosea is promising God’s vengeance on Israel for King Jehu’s brutal role in Ahab’s gruesome death at Jezreel (2 Kings 9 –10). Though Jehu had obeyed God’s commission to execute, he had displayed trickery, butchery, and hypocrisy in doing so. And, in calling his child by the name of this site of murderous bloodlust, Hosea was reminding Israel that though this event had happened over a hundred years previously, it had still not been repented of, that the attitudes behind it were still prevalent in the land, and that God would chastise them for this.

Christian friend, are you experiencing the “I will avenge” of God? Are you under the rod of His anger? Are you mystified as to why? Could it be that there is a specific sin, perhaps committed many years ago, which you have not honestly faced up to and repented of? Or are some of the sinful attitudes behind such a sin still lingering and still poisoning your soul? If so, then be thankful for the “I will avenge” of God. Mercifully, He will not leave you to perish or pine away in your sin.