Resources by Topic: Christian Life

I appreciate Tim Challies and his blog, and I liked what he had to say a week ago about Tiger Woods. I recommend that you check it out.

You will inevitably adopt the morality of the programs, movies, books, magazines, music, Internet sites, and conversations you participate in. GIGO—Garbage in, garbage out; Godliness in, godliness out. The cognitive is basic to the behavioral—you become what you choose to feed your mind on.

But wait a minute," says someone, "tell me this. Is our journey really necessary? In Spurgeon's day, we know, people found theology interesting, but I find it boring. Why need anyone take time off today for the kind of study you propose?"

This devotional is from Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening: Daily Readings. There’s hardly any man outside of Scripture itself who speaks to me like Spurgeon does. I highly recommend Morning and Evening as a daily dose of great theology.

Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.

I know, we’re supposed to pretend that movies have no influence on us, or our children. That way we can be cool and go with the popular drift of culture and prove that not all Christians are uptight and moralistic.

I was listening to a John Piper message on Hebrews 12, titled "The Painful Discipline of Our Heavenly Father," and appreciated this introduction, so I’m sharing it with you. 

When someone passed on to me this supposedly true story (I make no guarantees it really happened, but similar things certainly do happen) it reminded me of two things. 

As many of you know, I am on both Facebook and Twitter, where I frequently post short updates and devotional thoughts. Some people may ask if as a Christian, being on Facebook and Twitter and other social networking sites is really worth it, or just a waste of time.  

A few months ago I happened to see this on The Heart of a Pastor Wife's blog, and thought these pictures were profound.      

This story was sent by my friend Doug Nichols, founder and director of Action International. It is a powerful reminder that the first and second greatest commands are inseparable: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart...love your neighbor as yourself."

The problem with short-term rewards is not that it's wrong to receive them, but that it's wrong for them to be our primary motivation for doing the work. If we take Matthew 6 seriously, when we offer people their name on a brick for giving to a building offering we're saying "Hope you enjoy this brick, because if this is why you're giving, the brick's all the reward you're going to get."

Acts 17:11 says that "Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." We should come to God's Word with "great eagerness."

It's summertime, and many recent high school graduates will be starting college for the first time this fall. Other young people are beginning to look into which college they would like to attend in the next few years.