I’m still behind on my blog reading, but found some great posts in what I did read:

8 Ways We Normalize the Abnormal by Paul Tripp, HT to Proclaim and Defend. “God has made it clear that the norm for his children should be love. It is the thing that the listening and watching world should know us for. We should be recognized not only for the purity of our theology but also for the consistency of our love. This love is the new commandment that Jesus left with his disciples in his final days with them: ‘that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another’ (John 13:34).” Because love should be our normal response, Tripp lists eight responses that should not be normal for us: those that are driven by emotional, anger, disrespect, and more.

Do You Really Know How to Live by the Golden Rule? “The Golden Rule as Jesus has phrased it is one more example of Jesus’s rejection of bare-minimum obedience. Jesus has called us to a deeper obedience whose focus is character and motive—not simply actions.”

Does Bach’s Music Prove the Existence of God? HT to Challies. “Music isn’t just something physical and material. There’s something beyond the notes on the page. In great works of art, we touch the edges of the transcendent because the best of our human creations are consciously or unconsciously reaching for the true, good, and beautiful.” Interesting to think about! I have been moved to thank and worship God by the beauty and artistry of secular music, whether the artist believes in Him or not.

The Awesome Privilege of Praying to God as a Father. “In Matthew 5–7 the Lord Jesus introduced the ‘platform’ of His kingdom. He didn’t speak of defense, or taxation, or healthcare. He spoke against hypocrisy (‘be not as the hypocrites’) and in favor of private piety (‘go into your closet’). He spoke against religious formalism (‘you have heard’) and in favor of heart righteousness (‘but I say unto you’). He spoke against materialism (‘you cannot serve God and money’) and in favor of spiritual investment (‘seek first the kingdom of God’). All the while, again and again and again (sixteen times in the three chapters), He pointed His hearers to God as their heavenly Father, especially in His instructions about prayer.”

Let’s Stop Hyper-Spiritualising Christian Counseling, HT to Challies. “When Christians really struggle—and all of us will, at different times—it seems that it’s automatically assumed the fundamental problem is a spiritual one. We conclude that something must be wrong in our relationship with God. Our Christian counselling tends to be over-spiritualised. Thus our solutions are merely spiritual, believing the struggles to be spiritual. But that’s hopelessly reductionistic. It’s also dangerously simplistic.”

Why Hardship May Show God’s Love. “I’ve noticed that God didn’t shelter His young heroes from hardship. Neither did He wrap His own Son in bubble wrap.” We try to make things easy on our kids, but God trains us through hardship.

How to Become a Better Reader, HT to Steve Laube. “Anyone can be a good reader, even in the Internet Age. Reading better means reading more slowly. The Net tells us to consume words in small, easy bites, as we dart from one webpage to another. But slow reading demands time and practice.”

I mentioned this yesterday, but for those who didn’t see it, I had a radio interview earlier this week with Kurt and Kate Mornings on Moody Radio Florida to discuss my blog post Life Doesn’t Always Turn Out Like We Thought It Would. My son recorded that interview for me and made it linkable. You can listen to it here if you’re interested.

My hope lives not because I am not a sinner, but because I am a sinner for whom Christ died; my trust is not that I am holy, but that being unholy, He is my righteousness. My faith rests not upon what I am, or shall be, or feel, or know, but in what Christ is, in what He has done, and in what He is now doing for me.
From the September 25 reading from Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon