Thinking biblically about the new I-35

John Piper rejoices and offers a biblical perspective on the opening of the new I-35 bridge in Minneapolis–98 days ahead of schedule!  Driving to my church this morning I heard about incredible rebuilding effort. I am thankful that we as Christians can think upon these things from a worldview that includes God!

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Update: Dying for your faith in India

From “Christians Face Hindus’ Wrath”

Babita Nayak was cooking lunch for her pregnant sister when a mob of Hindu extremists wielding swords, hammers and long sticks rampaged through their village, chanting “India is for Hindus! Convert or leave!”

The men, wearing saffron headbands, ransacked dozens of huts, searching for cash and looting bicycles and livestock. They torched the village church, leaving behind burned Bibles in the local Kui language and torn-down posters of Jesus. “Christianity is a foreign religion,” they shouted over bullhorns, according to eyewitness and police reports. . . .

A six-hour drive from Bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa, into the isolated and winding jungle-lined roads showed remnants of fatal attacks and arson directed at Indian Christians in recent weeks: razed churches, scorched orphanages and homes, and roads blocked by downed trees, boulders and stick-waving mobs. Saffron flags (saffron is the color several Hindu right-wing organizations use for self-representation) flew over Hindu-owned tea shops and homes to protect them from attack.

All told, as many as 4,000 Christian homes and 115 churches were destroyed in the region. Amid the lush corn and rice farms of Kandhamal district, more than 35 people were killed for their faith, the All India Christian Council reported; government officials estimate 18 deaths.

There are increasing reports that women were sexually abused, but victims are slow to come forward because of the stigma attached to rape.

About 20,000 people have been displaced, most of them huddled into 14 squalid government-run camps across Kandhamal. About 5,000 have left their homes in Ganjam district, media reports say.

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Thinking biblically about large families

Al Mohler weighs in on how Christians should think about clashing worldviews regarding large families.

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Abortion and your vote

If you are planning to vote this year, please take a few minutes to read this exchange between Josh Harris and some people in his congregation regarding how a candidate’s view of abortion should affect your vote. He is referencing a message preached by another Pastor named Robin (a man).

Thoughtful, pastoral, and biblically balanced. You may not agree with everything here but I think you will find much to agree with).

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Quilt making and pursuing holiness

My Grandma McDole made each one of her grandchildren a quilt.  She made lots of people quilts.  Connie, a member of our church, makes many quilts, including one for each of our children who have graduated from high school and for Chris and me.  Several ladies from our church go to a Quilting Quirk every year at our church-associated camp.

Jerry Bridges in The Disciplines of Grace draws this analogy about his wife making a quilt and the choices that we make every day that contribute to a holy life.

She first makes a number of quilt “squares,” each one foot square. It is the design she sews into each of those squares that determines the overall pattern of the quilt.  The particular design she has chosen, a mariner’s compass, is rather intricate, with each squre containing about forty rather narrow triangles. Each quilt square is beautiful and is a testimony to her sewing ability.  But those individual squares, as beautiful as they are, do not make a quilt. It is only when they are sewn together with a narrow strip of cloth between each row of squares that they become a quilt.

The pursuit of holiness may be likened to a quilt.  We have the quilt square of discipline, the square of dependence, of commitment, of convictions, and of beholding the glory of Christ in the gospel. Each one of these “squares” is beautiful in and of itself.  But if we just look at these principles and means of holiness individually, we still do not have the “quilt” of holiness. What joins all these principles and means together to form the “quilt of holiness” is obedience. And obey one choice at a time!”

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Already. . . not yet!

One of the reasons I can relate to Psalm 51 is because David lived right where I live–in between “the already” of God’s mercy and steadfast and the “not yet” of complete victory over sin and the devil’s influence in my life.  Why is that worth observing. Paul Tripp explains,

“Because that’s exactly where you and I live as well. We live right in the middle of God’s great redemptive story, that’s what the already and the not yet is about. If you’re going to live right and well, you need to understand where you’re living.”

Where are you finding it difficult specifically to live in the middle of the “already, not yet” of life?

[Click here for the rest of the article or here for Paul's book.]

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