Roe v. Wade 40 years later: Mohler takes a look

Dr. Albert Mohler has written a response to a TIME magazine article “40 Years Ago, Abortion-Rights Activists Won an Epic Victory with Roe v. Wade.  Worth your read. . . Also take a listen to his podcast for today.

Read Full Post »

Three dangers of busyness

Kevin DeYoung challenged my own heart with his recent series on busyness.  Busyness is a battle I face all the time.  Sometimes I feel like giving up honestly, but then I come across something like what Kevin wrote and I want to take up the challenge again to establish margins, including some time for quiet and reflection, in my life again.  I think seeing the dangers of busyness that are pointed out in the posts below really help motivate me to guard against being crazy busy. I think I will always have more to do than hours in the day to them all but I do want to work on this area in my life.  Here are three dangers Kevin points out and a sample from each post.

Danger #1:  Busyness robs our joy

Busyness is like sin: kill it or it will be killing you. Most of us fall into a predictable pattern. We start to get overwhelmed by one or two big projects. Then we feel crushed by the daily grind. Then we despair of ever feeling at peace again and swear that something has to change. Then two weeks later life is more bearable, and we forget about our oath until the cycle starts all over again. What we don’t realize is that all the while, we’ve been a joyless wretch, snapping like a turtle and as personally engaging as a cat. When busyness goes after joy, it goes after everyone’s joy.

Danger #2: Busyness robs our hearts

As much as we must pray against the devil and pray for the persecuted church, in Jesus’ thinking the greater threat to the gospel is sheer exhaustion. Busyness kills more Christians than bullets. How many sermons are stripped of their power by lavish dinner preparations and professional football? How many moments of pain are wasted because we never sat still enough to learn from them? How many times of private and family worship have been crowded out by soccer and school projects? We need to guard our hearts. The seed of God’s word won’t grow to fruitfulness without pruning for rest, quiet, and calm.

Danger #3:  Busyness can cover up the rot in our souls

Busyness does not mean you are a faithful or fruitful Christian. It only means you are busy, just like everyone else. And like everyone else, your joy, your heart, and your soul are in danger. We need the word of God to set us free. We need biblical wisdom to set us straight. What we need is the Great Physician to heal our overscheduled souls.

If only we could make time for an appointment.

I would benefit from any feedback you have in this area of being crazy busy.

Read Full Post »

Starting that gospel conversation today

Mike Riccardi suggests some ways that are helpful to people like us who may struggle with how to start or steer a conversation to the gospel.  He writes about how we might think in terms of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation and look for opportunities in everyday conversation to connect events in people’s lives to these biblical themes.  Check out “Starting Gospel Conversations” today and look for such opportunities. It might be easier to do this than you think.

Read Full Post »

A firm heart in shaky times

“Nothing will contribute more to the establishing of the heart in shaking times than a firm belief of the power, and mercy, and promise of God.”–Matthew Henry

“Let God’s promises shine on your problems!”–Corrie Ten Boom

“God means what he says and will do all that He has promised!”–Hudson Taylor

Read Full Post »

Praying through the Ten Commands

Last evening as part of our congregational worship we prayed through the Ten Commands given to Moses on Mount Sinai.  We utilized this worksheet  to do so. We varied our time with public prayer and small group praying.  Always helpful to pray through Scripture. A sample from this worksheet regarding the last commandment:

. . . that we will not crave earthly belongings. That we will not dishonor Your gifts. That we will not desire what is not rightfully ours and endeavor to acquire it, but instead treat other people’s property with respect. That our hearts will not be captivated by affection for money or this world’s goods (1 Tim 6:8–10). That we will resist the temptation to put trust in credit cards and learn to say “no” to impulse buying. That we will replace envy with gratitude and conscious thanksgiving (1 Pet 2:1), praise instead of complaint, and prayer instead of worry (Phil 4:6, 7). That we will learn to be content in any and every circumstance (Phil 4:11).

 

Read Full Post »