Blogs

Did You Know That Charles Spurgeon Struggled with Depression?
“It comes as a surprise to some that Charles Spurgeon had a lifelong battle with depression. His reputation as a famed and powerful preacher, his cheery wit, and his cigar-smoking manliness might lead us to imagine there could never be a chink in his Victorian Englishman’s armor. It shouldn’t be a surprise, of course: being full of life in a fallen world must mean distress, and Spurgeon’s life was indeed full of physical and mental pain.”

Learning the Biblical ABCs of Emotional Intelligence
“As Christians, we have scores and scores of resources for renewing our minds and taking every thought captive to the gospel. Yet, as Christians, we don’t spend as much time thinking about, nor do we have many solid biblical resources on renewing our emotions or taking every emotion captive to the gospel. With this dearth of resources in mind, I’ve collated 6 of my writings on emotions into a free PDF document: ”

3 ways to disciple our children in an age of confusion
“The culture is speaking loud and clear. We must be louder and clearer. Three ways we can do this well is to tell, tune in, and talk:”

The Danger of Neglecting Beauty
“In my experience, many Christians are strongest in their desire for truth and goodness, with beauty running a distant third. But when we neglect the pursuit of beauty, we neglect pursuing one of the primary qualities of God.”

Wheaton College Wins Court Battle Over Obama’s Birth Control Mandate
“Another judge signaled a win for religious liberty by barring the federal government from forcing the christian school to pay for employee birth control.”

The Difference between Guilt and Shame
“Though Guilt and Shame are twins, born in the garden, only moments apart, they aren’t identical. Guilt is usually tied to an event: I did something bad. Shame is tied to a person: I am bad. Guilt is the wound. Shame is the scar. Guilt is isolated to the individual. Shame is contagious.”

Kindle Books

Why I Am Not An Atheist by David J. Randall $2.99.

The Work of Christ: What the Events of Jesus’ Life Mean for You by R. C. Sproul $2.39.

Adoniram Judson by Jason G. Duesing $0.99.

Although so much digital technology revolves around communication, it has had a devastating impact on so many aspects of relationships.

Digital Technology is Killing our Identity

Successful relationships cannot happen unless the people involved have a clear sense of personal identity. But we cultivate and project so many social media personas that we’ve forgotten who we really are. The Internet has changed the way we present ourselves to one another.

American Girls and Their Social Media Lives

Today teenage girls live online, a recent study revealing that “92 percent were going online from a mobile device daily” (10). But this online world isn’t the screen of innocent fun so many parents believe it to be. It’s a hypersexualized world where validation, acceptance, and worth are inexorably connected to sexual appeal and appetite.

The False Reality of Social Media

We live in a world of false realities. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest all offer an alternate view of who we are as individuals. We can tweet spiritual tweets and show off our immaculate houses or perfectly cooked food on Instagram. We can either judge or feel judged as we scan our Facebook timelines, and Pinterest shows us how far we fall from perfection.

The “reality” photos and statuses published are just as much a mask as the perfect happy posts we broadcast. Neither show our cyber friends who we really are. We are safe from vulnerability, risk of failure, and have complete control of the image we portray of ourselves.

Digital Technology is Killing Family Life

“Parent’s Mobile Use Harms Family Life” say High School Students

A recent survey found:

• More than a third of 2,000 11 to 18-year-olds said they had asked their parents to stop checking their devices.
• Of pupils who had asked their parents to put down their phones, 46% said their parents took no notice while 44% felt upset and ignored.
• 82% of students felt meal times should be device-free
• 22% said the use of mobiles stopped their families enjoying each other’s compan

“Our poll shows that children are aware of many of the risks associated with overuse of technology but they need the adults in their lives to set clear boundaries and role model sensible behaviour.”

Digital Technology is Killing Parenting

If you doubt that, look at this sign.

Then read the story behind it.

That Viral Houston Daycare Sign Is Right. Parents, Get Off Your Phones

Digital Technology is Killing our Friendships

By killing our listening skills and speaking abilities, it’s killing face-to-face communication and friendships

US psychologists claim social media ‘increases loneliness’

A report suggests that more than two hours of social media use a day doubled the chances of a person experiencing social isolation. It claims exposure to idealised representations of other people’s lives may cause feelings of envy.

Smartphones and How They Change Us

While I have undoubtedly gained an immense amount from these (internet relationships), I have frequently found them to be a retreat from the challenge of actual relationships with Christian neighbors with whom I differ.

Has the Smartphone Destroyed a Generation?

Social-networking sites like Facebook promise to connect us to friends. But the portrait of iGen teens emerging from the data is one of a lonely, dislocated generation. Teens who visit social-networking sites every day but see their friends in person less frequently are the most likely to agree with the statements “A lot of times I feel lonely,” “I often feel left out of things,” and “I often wish I had more good friends.” Teens’ feelings of loneliness spiked in 2013 and have remained high since.

Millennials and Social Media  (Video)

Simon Sinek argues that this social media has become a societal addiction and the main reason for poor self-esteem and shallow relationships.

Digital Technology is Killing our Marriages

I Am iPhone: How Our Tech Endangers Our Relationships

“Certain family therapy theorists maintain that when you are working with a couple, there are always three people in the room to consider: the man, the woman, and the relationship itself. The more I have begun to work with couples, the more I’ve realized that this maxim is actually a half-truth. There are three people in the room, but far too often the third ‘person’ is one partner’s smartphone.”

Every case of married infidelity I have seen has involved some form of indiscretion committed on a phone. I have even spent whole (paid!) sessions helping couples learn how to manage their phones.

Digital Technology is Killing our Private Lives

It’s killing privacy as every moment is now digitized not for family archives but for instant upload to the world for likes and hearts by complete strangers.

We don’t have much of a private life any more as so much lived out in public arena, making mistakes very public too. Also, so much gathering of personal data is going on undetected.

Millennials and Their Phones

The average parent will post almost 1,000 photos of their child online before he or she turns five, according to a 2015 survey of 2,000 parents by The Parent Zone, a U.K.-based site devoted to Internet safety and parenting in the digital age.

Why our son doesn’t have a smartphone

The real reason why our son doesn’t have a phone is because we think his middle-school years will be better spent without one. The answer I’ve given, over and over again, is this: I want you to be free from middle school drama when you’re at home.

Previous Posts: Technology is Created by God, Technology is the Gift of God, Technology Reveals God, The Dangers of Digital Babylon, Digital Technology is Killing our Minds, Digital Technology is Killing our Health.

A few thousand years ago, God sent his people into Babylonian exile where they had to live in a culture that was extremely hostile to them and their faith. Yet God called them to continue to seek the good of the land, to have children, and parent them for his glory (Jer. 29:4-14).

Although we are not in physical Babylon, we are very much living in digital Babylon, an all-pervasive digital culture extremely hostile to the Christian faith and true spirituality. I believe digital Babylon is at least as dangerous as historical Babylon. Historical Babylon slew its thousands but digital Babylon its tens of thousands.

Although hundreds of thousands were taken into Babylonian captivity, seventy years later, when God called them to return to Israel, only several thousand actually did so. The rest had been thoroughly Babylonized over the years. If we want to avoid that in digital Babylon, we need to clearly identify the digital dangers we are facing and the damage they are doing.

This is vital because those who do so and can get digital technology under control are going to be uniquely placed to excel – intellectually, relationally, vocationally, educationally, and financially. There is no surer way to stand out and gain a massive “competitive advantage” in every area of life, relationships, and work.

But control (or lack of it) of our devices is also the biggest determinant of our spiritual health, growth, and usefulness. If we want to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, we must grow in digital self-discipline

I’m 100% convinced that there’s nothing more important for individual Christians than to get digital technology under control. I really mean that. This is going to make or break our Christian lives, our families, and our churches for decades to come.

This is a multi-dimensional problem with multi-dimensional solutions. It’s going to require some eye-gouging and some hand-amputation (Matt. 5:29). It will involve much putting off and much putting on (Eph. 4:22-24). But life on the other side of this will be so worth it that we may eventually look back with shock and horror, asking one another, “What. Was. I. Doing?”

Over the coming days, I’m going to be highlighting how digital Babylon threatens this generation

Previous Posts: Technology is Created by God, Technology is the Gift of God, Technology Reveals God,

Blogs

How to Teach Boys to Respect Women
“First, fathers and male teachers, especially, can highlight the ways they learn from and are sharpened by godly, strong women—from the biblical examples of such leaders as Ruth and Priscilla and Lydia and our Lord’s mother Mary to our more immediate mothers- and sisters-in-Christ. If you are married, men, pay attention and give respect to the counsel of your wife. If you are a pastor, do not patronize women in your sermon illustrations or introductions. Highlight the creation and eschaton callings of women bound up in our common inheritance.”

4 Things I Learned from Stealing Credit Cards and Buying Beer in High School
Here’s an encouraging testimony for parents who are struggling with rebellious teens:

“One night a couple of friends and I foolishly broke into vehicles, stole credit cards, and drove throughout New Orleans buying beer and other things on the cash and credit cards we stole. We were arrested and charged with eleven felonies. The news hit the paper and the shame and guilt quickly consumed me. In God’s mercy, the night that was the worst night of my life was what He used to crush me and bring me to Himself. Here are four things I learned.”

What Christians Should Know About Embryo Adoption
“A hallmark of the evangelical church in America is the backing of a pro-life worldview. As such, abortion clinics and the politics that govern them are primary areas of focus in this important cause. However, there’s another front that often gets overlooked in the fight for life: the state of the thousands of children who remain cryogenically frozen as human embryos following in-vitro fertilization cycles.”

Five Reasons Why the Children’s Minister Is the Staff Position in Greatest Demand
The staff position of the greatest demand in congregations is the children’s minister.

Know These Signs Of Domestic Abuse So You Can Help
“Many abusive partners may seem absolutely perfect in the early stages of a relationship. Possessive and controlling behaviors don’t always appear overnight, but rather emerge and intensify as the relationship grows.” Warning signs that a relationship may be abusive include a partner who:”

Pornography, Respect, and Responsibility: A Letter to the Hotel Industry
“A letter on pornography and business ethics written by two prominent public intellectuals—one a Christian, one a Muslim—sent to hotel industry executives last week.”

Life In Post-Christian Britain
“American readers, especially Christians, so many of us think it can’t happen here. It can, and it will.”

Kindle Books

Being There: How to Love Those Who Are Hurting by Dave Furman $3.99.

I Exalt You, O God: Encountering His Greatness in Your Private Worship by Jerry Bridges $5.99.

Faith. Hope. Love.: The Christ-Centered Way to Grow in Grace by Mark Jones $4.99.

Blogs

How does food expose the activity in a pastor’s soul?
“Pastors, be honest with the place food has in your life. It took me thirty years before I was honest about it. It will always be a battle for me. I assure you, the soul will continue to languish in the pain and sadness that exists that food tries to cover. Remember, God’s grace will meet you in that place of openness and honesty and will give you strength to walk in self-control and victory with the snares that food brings. It will create a space in your soul that will bring the relief and peace that you truly seek.”

The Effective Leader: Five Essential Habits
“What I’ve discovered in studying effective leaders is that they demonstrate consistent disciplines or habits that build the foundation for their success.”

On Writing Books and Getting Published
Lots of helpful advice here from Kevin DeYoung.

10 types of thinking that undergird depression-anxiety
“There are styles of thinking that are highly prone to cause and perpetuate depression-anxiety. The first step for someone to stop biting their nails is to realize they are doing it. Likewise, an important step in overcoming depression-anxiety is to recognize these patterns of thought as they are occurring.”

The Power of De-Conversion Stories: How Jen Hatmaker is Trying to Change Minds About the Bible
“De-conversion stories are designed not to reach non-Christians but to reach Christians.  And their purpose is to convince them that their crusty, backwards, outdated, naïve beliefs are no longer worthy of their assent.  Whether done privately or publicly, this is when a person simply gives their testimony of how they once thought like you did and have now seen the light.”

The Benefits of Listening to the Elderly
Sweet little story.

Kindle Books

The Son of God and the New Creation by Graeme Goldsworthy $3.99.

Work and Our Labor in the Lord by James M. Hamilton Jr. $3.99

Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel by Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. $3.99

The Book on Leadership by John F. MacArthur $2.99.

Our enemy says, “Youth for pleasure, middle age for business, old age for religion.” The Bible says, “Youth, middle age, and old age for your Creator.”

But as it’s especially in our youth that we are most inclined (determined?) to forget our Creator, it’s especially in these years that we must work to remember our Creator (Ecc.12:1). Remember that he made you, that he provides for you, that he cares for you, that he watches you, that he controls you; and remember that he can save you too. That’s a lot to remember, but it’s much easier to start memorizing when we are young!

1. Energetic Years
However, that’s not the only reason why God commands us to remember our Creator in our young years. It’s also because these are our most energetic years.

Why wait until we are pegging out, until we are running down, until our gas is almost empty, before serving our Creator? The God who made us deserves our most active and healthy years: our bodies are strong and muscular (well kind of), our minds are sharp and clear, our senses are receptive and keen and sensitive, our enthusiasm is bright and bushy, our wills are steely and determined. Remember him in your energetic years.

2. Sensitive Years
Why do far more of us become Christians in our youth than in our middle or old age? It’s because youthful years are sensitive years. Without giving up our belief in “Total Depravity” we can say that it’s “easier” to believe and repent when we are younger. It’s never easy, but it’s easier. And it’s easier because as we get older our heart is hardened thicker, our conscience is seared number, our sins root deeper, our deadness becomes deader.

Use youthful sensitivity and receptivity to remember your Creator before the evil days of callous indifference set in.

3. Teachable Years
We learn more in our youth than in any other period of life. That’s true in all subjects, but especially true in religious instruction. All the Christians I’ve met who were converted to Christ late in life have expressed huge regrets about how little they know and how little they can now learn. I encourage them to value and use whatever time the Lord gives them, but they often feel they have to study twice as hard to learn half as well.

4. Dangerous Years
Young years are minefield years: hormones, peer pressure, alcohol, drugs, pornography, immorality, testosterone, etc. Few navigate these years without blowing up here and there. Dangers abound on every side – and on the inside. How many “first” temptations become “last” temptations! How much we need our Creator to keep us and carry us through this battlefield.

Remember to Remember
Let me then give you some helps to remember your Creator during these best of years (and “worst” of years):

• Be persuaded that you have a Creator: Get well grounded in a literal understanding of Genesis 1-2 and shun all evolutionary influences.
• Get to know your Creator: Study his Word using sermons, commentaries, and good books. But also study his World using microscopes and telescopes and any other instruments he gives.
• Join with your Creator’s friends: Build friendships with other creatures that love to remember and respect their Creator.
• Follow your Creator’s order: He set and gave the pattern of six days work followed by one day of rest for contemplation of His Works.
• Ask for your Creator’s salvation: Even if your rejection of your Creator has broken you in pieces, he’s willing to re-create you in his image.

And while we’re on the subject of salvation, I don’t want older readers to be discouraged. Compared to the aeons of eternity, you are still in your “youth.” It’s not too late to remember Him, before these evil days come even nearer.