Laudable Linkage

Posted on March 28, 2026 by Barbara Harper

The internet is full of good blogging. Here are a few samples I found this week:

How Do I “Look to Jesus“? HT to the Story Warren. “For all the inspiration we find in the phrase “looking to Jesus,” we may struggle to know exactly what it means. Look to Jesus, yes — but how?”

The Black Sheep and the Laptop Girl, HT to Challies. “I am pleased to share a true story of a decade-long friendship and sisterhood that I hold close to my heart. It is a story of how God once challenged my apathy for the lost in my city. It is a testimony of God’s power and goodness despite my fears and presumptions. It is an example of the value of small talk and sincerity, in a world starved of authenticity and hope.” I enjoyed this a lot.

Love the Hard Ones, HT to Challies. Ths is written for pastors, but it’s good for everyone. I’ve had trouble loving “hard people,” too. “Christ has filled his church with many kind, generous, and gracious people. His Spirit is clearly at work in them. But the Spirit is working in others too, even the opinionated and ungrateful. These men and women may not be a joy to pastor. They like to argue, or they’re grumpy, or they chronically complain—or all of the above. They might be cantankerous, but they’re still God’s. And he calls us to shepherd them as well.”

4 Ways to Combat the Fear of Man, HT to Redeeming Productivity. “Thankfully, as I’ve grown in my faith, the Lord has given me tangible freedom—more than I could’ve imagined when I was younger. While fearing man will always be a temptation, I’ve found tools to combat it when it arises. Here are four habits that have helped me.”

Embracing Slow Sanctification. “In these middle years of life, after walking with Jesus for decades, not days, this is how I’m learning to see the sanctification process. It’s slow by design. The finish line isn’t a moment of arrival but a spiraling closer and closer toward the heart of Jesus.”

When Your Spouse Stops Being Your Project. “Though both husband and wife may acknowledge they have sins and weaknesses of their own, they are convinced that the greatest holdup belongs to the other person. Many spouses remain stuck here almost indefinitely, trapped in the conviction that the transformation of their marriage lies just on the far side of the transformation of their spouse.”

8 Things Caregivers Should Know About Dementia, HT to Challies. “It’s important to remember dementia is a physical disease that causes psychological symptoms. Dementia patients can’t always control their behavior. But for the more than 11 million U.S. adults caring for someone with dementia, it can be hard to remember that when a parent lashes out, empties every kitchen cabinet, or wanders outside at 3:00 a.m. It can be hard for me to remember, and I’ve spent my career in the medical field. Dementia can drive a caregiver either to exasperation or to the cross.”

Wonderfully Woven Personalities. “Even though personality profiles are man-made, it seems self-evident that every child enters the world possessing a unique, one-of-a-kind personality. How can we explain the natural bent that manifests itself so early on in life? Doesn’t it stand to reason that our inner personhood receives God’s attention just as much as our outward formation?”

Three Reminders for Spring. “Last week I got in the car and saw a thick yellow film across the windshield. I turned on the washer fluid and got the wipers going. When that layer of pollen comes to rest on everything everywhere, there’s no mistaking—spring has arrived, and with it, a special level of frantic activity. Here are three things to remember as you usher in the spring with your kids.”

“Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone,
but in every leaf in springtime.”― Martin Luther

Laudable Linkage

Posted on March 21, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Here’s some of the good blogging found this week:

What God Is Doing When He Doesn’t Seem to be Doing Anything. “Sometimes we can’t help but wonder—what is God doing when he doesn’t seem to be doing anything? What is God doing when it isn’t clear that he is working toward the goal I long for? What is he up to when he doesn’t seem to be answering my most heartfelt prayers? The Bible offers a variety of answers, each of which can encourage us to wait with patience, hope, and confidence.”

Has Manifestation Found Its Way Into Your Prayer Life? “It should come as a surprise to absolutely no one that in our era of expressive individualism, we have come up with a ‘spiritual practice’ that does away with the middleman (who in this case happens to be the God of the universe) and puts the emphasis on the force of our own will. However, I wonder if even firm believers in the efficacy and necessity of prayer have become susceptible to the practice of manifestation in the way we frame our prayers.”

Learning to Be a “Friendtor,” HT to Challies. I love this! “Essentially, I realised I was a regular, bumbling, work-in-progress Christian. If I had to dole out sage spiritual sound bytes at regular intervals or live without mistakes, I would have a giant F on my mentor report card. But as I stepped into the role with doubts and fears, I began to unlearn a few things.”

Fallen from Grace: The Mysterious Warning of Galatians 5:4. ““You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.” (Galatians 5:4). Falling from grace sounds serious. It sounds like something we should avoid at all costs. But how can we avoid it if we are unsure of what it means to fall from grace?”

5 Lies that Steal Your Joy (and How to Replace Them with Truth). “Have you ever experienced something that should bring you joy, but instead leaves you feeling discouraged, anxious, and less than? The biggest culprits that steal my joy are the unbiblical soundtracks playing in my head.”

The Secret to Contentment on the Merry-Go-Round of Life. “Life is like a 1960s merry-go-round. It’s not a gentle carousel that rotates slowly while we sit atop cute animals, bobbing and smiling for pictures. Instead, life in this world flings us around at lightning speed, and when we lose our grip, it casts us into a heap on the hard ground, broken and bloodied. Unless we know the secret. “

When Life Feels Impossible: Lessons from the Book of Ruth. “Some situations feel so hopeless that I struggle to imagine how God could bring good from them. However, God has been showing me that this attitude reveals how little I trust Him to work in these situations—and how distorted my view of Him can become. Recently, He’s been using the book of Ruth to help me see this more clearly. “

Kindness That Blooms in Barren Seasons. “A woman’s willingness to care for others when she herself is hurting is a glimpse of grace at work. Perhaps the reason her example moves us so deeply is because it reflects the character of Christ Himself. His example in the Gospels shows us that when we extend kindness isn’t based on our emotional reserves or dependent on if the weather of our lives feels right. Even in barren seasons, the kindness of God can still bloom.”

Risk Setting Your Soul on Fire: Start Reading Missionary Biographies Today. “Few believers today read missionary biographies. I’m not going to list why not. I don’t understand it myself. Missionary biographies have been a blessing and an inspiration to me throughout my spiritual journey. So here is a whole stack of reasons why you should start reading a missionary biography today.”

Life in the Margins, HT to Challies. “Sometimes in evangelical culture we can be tempted to think that the one shot we have to really connect with the Lord daily is in our ‘quiet time’ (or devotions or whatever you want to call it).^⁠ That time is crucial, of course, but what we often fail to realize is that the little moments, the walk-by-the-way moments, add up.”

What Will We Do with What We Know? “I know a lot about the guy. If you’ve been married for long, you probably know a whole lot about your spouse, too. That’s a good thing. But the real question isn’t what do we know about our spouse. It’s what will we do with what we know?”

Time, Routines, and Interruptions That Aren’t. “Whether you are a Christian parent trying to juggle the stay-at-home parenting life, managing a hectic job, holding down commitments to community, church, and family, or a combination of any of those, managing time is a constant struggle. While we want to be good stewards of the time God has given us, we can fall into patterns of unnecessary striving, laziness, avoidance, or idolatry.”

Posting Hoaxes: Part 1: The Facebook Hoax Is Back: Why Writers Must Verify Before They Share and Part2: Before You Share That Post: A Writer’s Guide to Verifying Information and Building Trust Online. Though these posts are written to authors, most of the information is applicable to anyone. When we post what turns out to be a hoax, we lose credibility, among other things.

The fear of the Lord is love on its knees. –Adrian Rogers

Laudable Linkage

Posted on March 14, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Some of the good blogging found this week:

God’s Faithful Sovereignty When Things Don’t Go As Planned. “My husband and I have two failed adoptions, chronic illness, and an unexpected mission field exodus to our names. Things not going as planned? I may be an unwilling expert on the subject. But it turns out, being an expert on disappointment can mean possessing a deep appreciation for the goodness of God’s sovereignty.”

God’s Desires:How to Know God’s Will in Difficult Decisions. “How do I know whether to marry this person or choose this or that career? Does God have desires about these decisions? Of course He does. We use the phrase “God’s will” to refer to these desires. God is not AI that coldly calculates a direction based on probability and past outcomes of similar situations. He has desires. He grieves, loves, weeps and wills. As Christians, we want to know what God wants in every decision we make. But how?”

Weak at Work: How God Supplies Our Strength. “While ministry often provides opportunities to enter personal lives of those under your care, all jobs require things of us that we may not feel able or willing to give. We lie awake at night worried about finances, projects, or relationships with clients because working as unto the Lord is HARD work.”

Christlike Work in a Burnout Society, HT to the Story Warren. “In our desperation to maximize productivity, he argues, we’ve become a society defined by voluntary self-exploitation. Achievement addiction has led to emotional exhaustion. Today, many are ashamed of their failure to advance in their careers, frustrated over being underpaid, or bored from long hours of menial tasks. Maybe you’re afraid because of your industry’s direction, or perhaps you wonder if your work is valuable. In the malaise of modern work, God offers us a hopeful alternative.”

You Can Always Come Back to Church, HT to Challies. Glenna talks about the awkwardness she felt returning to the gym after a long absence and compares that to coming back to church.

Roots and Wings. “Rather than feeding them, these stories threatened to poison their imaginations and turn them inward instead of upward. Yet what to do? What could keep them from being caught in our collective cultural drift, circling that drain that threatens to spiral ever-inward? How could I resist its insidious strength? I wanted better for them.”

The Passage in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Tolkien Couldn’t Read Without Weeping, HT to the Story Warren. “Kreeft reflects on the nature of hope, contrasting ordinary hope with what he calls deep hope. Ordinary hope is often rooted in calculation. A bet on good odds. It’s the hope that arises when success is still a possibility, no matter how unlikely. But deep hope is different. It’s the kind of hope that arises after ordinary hope dies. Hope against hope.”

Janette Oke Wrote Her First Novel at 42. Then She Wrote 70 More, HT to Linda. Janette Oke launched me on my journey of reading Christian fiction. I enjoyed reading about her not only for that reason, but for encouragement as an aspiring writer starting later in life.

Note: I read from a wide variety of sources and may not endorse everything from any particular site.

Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. C. S. Lewis

Laudable Linkage

Posted on March 7, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Some of the good blogging found this week:

Bible Hugs. “Not long ago I meant to type into the search box, biblehub.com, a site I visit frequently for research. (If you’ve not visited there, it’s well worth exploring.) But this time, instead of hub I typed hug. Bible hug. After a slight snicker, I thought, Wait—scripture does offer hugs-of-sorts, in the form of encouragement, comfort, and assurance—providing occasions when I can almost feel God’s embrace. Sometimes those hugs have come in preparation for what’s to come, sometimes in the midst of pain or trouble, and other times after the fact.”

To Cover an Offense is to Forgive, HT to Challies. This is a helpful explanation of two different terms in the Bible and what the involve–covering and offense and overlooking an offense.

God, the Lord of Time. “Planning my weeks and my days is a constant exercise in frustration. Invariably I write down only a small portion of the things I desperately need to accomplish. Invariably, my attempts at modest expectations are far too ambitious and I enter the following week looking at more than half of what I had hoped to complete. Rinse and repeat.”

A Desire Is not Always Sinful, HT to Challies. “The Bible certainly has its warnings about misplaced and unleashed desires, but Scripture attests that to be human is to have desire. Fears identify those things that are important to you.”

Venting vs. Complaining: What’s the Difference? “I just needed to vent. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve muttered this phrase to my husband, my mom, and my friends over the past few months. But as I’ve read through the book of Numbers, watching God’s people continuously complain—and seeing His anger kindled against them when they do—the Holy Spirit has gently prodded me to take a closer look at myself. I’d like to invite you along on this journey too.”

Should Christians Feel Guilty for Being Patriotic? HT to Challies. I don’t usually post reviews of books I haven’t read, but this made some excellent points.

A Treasure Chest for Thoughts, HT to Challies. “A book is a treasure chest for thoughts. Crack open the covers, and you’ll find a wealth of ideas in its words. They can take you out of yourself and show you new places and new perspectives.”

A Shy Guy’s Guide to Big Groups, HT to Challies. Much of this resonated with me! “Dear brother or sister, I feel your plight. But instead of taking personality tests and being trapped in the results, making peace with the discomfort and awkwardness, what if we focused outside of ourselves on others? What if we took the counsel of a voice instructor and aimed at being generous with our energy?”

God often removes what we lean on so we learn to lean on Him alone. Author Unknown

Laudable Linkage

Posted on February 28, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Some of the good blogging found this week:

He Is Strong Enough. “Now I have been a mother for 21 years, and I struggle to carry the burdens of four children on these two shoulders. I think back and wonder how my wonderful mom did it. And then I remember that she had a Savior who is in the business of carrying burdens–One who invited the weary and heavy-laden to come to Him for rest.”

A Testimony in Sorrow. “The odd thing about this time is that I remember God using me so much more than in the seasons of life when I believed I ‘had it all together.’ My brokenness was the platform for His glory. Yes, I was weak, but my face was constantly turned toward Him, relying on Him for every breath and step. So many people came to me during that time for counsel and I consistently told the Lord that I was not in the battle at the time; I was on ‘sabbatical’ from the Christian life. He would have to wait to use me until I was self-sustaining again. I was a mess and freely confessed to others that such was the case. The truth was, I couldn’t point to myself as the standard for their help anymore. I needed help; I was a beggar pointing other beggars to the Bread of Life.”

How Do I Start Sharing the Gospel in the New Year? “A pastor shared this with me, and I’m wondering if you feel the same way. He knows the gospel well. But he finds that the hardest part of sharing the good news of Christ is getting started. Many of us feel this way, don’t we? But what if we are making a false assumption that is stopping us in our tracks?”

Godly Motherhood and Pinterest Dreams: The Mom I Long to Be, HT to Challies. “We can make many assumptions about the photos we see. We can long for the perfection depicted in tiny boxes on a glowing screen. Yet what truly matters in the eyes of the Lord, the hearts of our children, and in our souls, is the glorious work God is doing through the holy and hard moments of mothering. For every Pinterest mother we crave to be, God is molding in us a beauty that cannot be captured in photos.”

15 Devotional Gleanings from Reading the Old Testament Law. “What we want to know as we read is: What was God teaching Israel through these portions of the Law? What does God teach His Church now through these same chapters?”

When You Want to Trace In Your Specific Clay-Like Conditions. “Maybe like me, you delight in being a clay jar filled with the treasure of Jesus, yet struggle when the clay feels extra fragile, sad, or worn out. In those conditions, I can be tempted to want to click a ‘return’ button as simply as it is to send back an unwanted Amazon package.”

My house, my kitchen, my desk, my very body are meant to be holy places in this world for the eternal God. Elisabeth Elliot

Laudable Linkage

Posted on February 21, 2026 by Barbara Harper

These are some of the good reads found this week:

The One Belief That Can Keep the Hurt from Crushing You, HT to Lois. “Hard seasons don’t just bring pain; they demand explanations. And if we’re not careful, we’ll grab the nearest one just to make the ache feel manageable. And this is where we can get ourselves in trouble.”

Remembering Who We Are When We Disagree, HT to Challies. “Where God’s Word allows freedom or the use of wisdom in applying biblical principles to complex situations, we must maintain a humble posture and remember that the people with whom we disagree are not adversaries to be defeated, but brothers and sisters in Christ.”

The Spiritual Discipline of Unlearning, HT to Challies. “Much of our growth in Christ does not come from learning something new. It comes from unlearning things we already believe, assume, or practice. If learning is addition, unlearning is subtraction. And subtraction is usually harder.”

Say No to This: Tiny Deaths, Eternal Gain. “When was the last time you had a craving and didn’t fill it? How long has it been since you had the urge to check your phone but stopped yourself before picking it up? What was the last item you almost added to your cart but then scrolled past? In what recent conversation did you choose to hold your tongue because you knew you should stop talking?”

Three Things that Make Temptation Flee, HT to Challies. “There are many things that want to steal our joy and affection in Christ. There are sins and temptations that plague us more often than we’d like to admit. But for the Christian, there is a real sense in which these temptations no longer lord over us. We are no longer bound to obey them anymore. Even on this side of heaven we experience real victory over sin and temptation. Those are glorious seasons when our hearts are lifted to heaven and we do the things that we really want to do. What are those things that make sin seem so silly? What is our frame of mind when temptations lose their shimmer?”

If We Create Nothing, What Is It All For? “We were created by the wisest, most creative, most intricate, and most beautiful Creator—God. We were also created in his image, Imago Dei, which means that we have some of his attributes in us. This is why so many of us humans long to create in some way, whether we are writers, painters, homemakers, designers, engineers, or one of so many other wonderfully creative things. We also were created to work. All we endeavor to do takes hard work. We are designed to accomplish this work through and to the Lord.”

The Goodness of Caring for Other People’s Children. HT to Challies. “It is right and good to have ‘skin in the game’ with young people, whether or not you are related to them. That will not solve all our social crises, but it would help us move in the right direction. Think about how often children, even from happy and supportive families, find their calling or advance professionally due to someone outside of the family. Young people succeed when they are invested in by adults, relatives or not. Yet we do so little to acknowledge or encourage that.”

On the Public (and Passionate) Reading of Scripture. “Let us read Scriptures with the gravitas and passion they deserve. How do we do this? Try these seven suggestions to reinvigorate your public reading of Scripture.”

Aging. I don’t know this author, and I don’t usually link to Facebook posts. But a friend shared this from another friend. I thought it was so good, I printed out and have read parts of it several times.

Aging with Joy, HT to Challies. “Between now and the moment we die, we are walking into an unknown country. No matter how many steps you have taken to make it feel secure, it’s not — not in this world. Now, how do we do that? How do we enter that unknown with joy and dignity and hope?”

Should Heroes Save the World or Find Themselves? “A hero is no longer someone who sacrifices himself or herself for the good of others. Rather, a hero is someone who puts himself first. The hero’s quest is no longer slaying the dragon or saving the princess or ending the war. The hero’s quest is now to go on an important journey of self-discovery.”

Sadness that brings you closer to God, is better than happiness that pulls you from him.

Laudable Linkage

Posted on February 14, 2026 by Barbara Harper

I haven’t had as much time online as usual this week, but I did find these thought-provoking reads:

It’s Your Destiny: Don’t Make This Mistake. Salvation isn’t a matter of just saying the right words. The author gives some sad examples of those who thought it did.

Old Advice for a New Year, HT to The Story Warren. “In the typical flurry of secular articles about the new year, two messages seem loudest. Half the articles triumphantly declare that this can be the year you become the best version of yourself and achieve your dreams. The other half reject the hustle; they tell you that you’re enough as you are and that you should enjoy life instead of striving. These messages seem like opposites, but they share an important thread: self-focus. As Christians, we ought to consider every turning of the season in light of God’s wisdom, not our own.”

New Season, New Surrender. Though this is written in the context of missions, it’s true for all of us that surrendering to the Lord is not a “one and done thing.” Courtney shares truths that helped her with new areas to surrender as well as old ones that needed to be given to the Lord continually.

Are You Ready? This was linked in the article above, but I wanted to share it separately. J. C. Ryle asks if hearers are ready for whatever a new year might bring, good or bad, and shares how to get ready.

How God Met Me the Night my Kindergartner Went Missing. Debbie shares how God’s Word helped her in a scary situation.

The Songs I Once Found Dreary, HT to Challies. “There is something deeply comforting when someone enters our context and realizes the weight with us. Lament calls on the Lord to do just that. Isn’t this how God desires us to come? Not with tidy understanding or facades of strength but with full disclosure. Lament, then, is not weakness but actually the evidence of trust and our union with Christ.“

Living as a Woman Loved by God. “The difference between those two women is not personality or temperament. It’s not confidence, charm, or social instinct. The difference is whether they are living as women who know they are loved by God. To live this way is to live from fullness rather than from lack. It’s to move through rooms—and relationships—without grasping, because you’ve already been given in Him what your heart is tempted to seek elsewhere.”

This is as good a time as any for my occasional reminder that linking to or from someone doesn’t always indicate total endorsement.

True love ennobles and dignifies the material labors of life; and homely services rendered for love’s sake have in them a poetry that is immortal. — Harriet Beecher Stowe

Laudable Linkage

Posted on February 7, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Some of the blog posts that stood out to me this week:

Who Christ Says I Am: Embracing My Identity. “I don’t know about you, but one of the biggest things that makes me feel loved is how I’m spoken to. What a person calls me has great power to make me feel cherished and to affect the perception of my identity. That’s why it’s so important to look for identity in the right places. I should say the right place because the One who made and redeemed me is the only One who can give me identity.”

Teach Your Kids What to Think, HT to Challies. “You say, ‘But I don’t want to teach my kids what to think, I just want to teach them how to think.’ Yes! You should teach them how to think. But not teaching them what to think communicates something to them. It communicates something about truth. If I’m not willing to teach them what to think, then I am most certainly teaching them that truth is something that can be decided on.”

Scheduling Hospitality: Making Space for Others In Our Calendars. “Most of us acknowledge that hospitality is a wonderful thing. We desire to do it. But if we wait until it’s convenient or feel like doing it, we probably never will. That’s why there was a time when my husband and I decided to invite people over every other Sunday. If we put it on the calendar and invited people, we couldn’t back out.”

Is the Cultural and Historical Context of Scripture Necessary, Helpful, or Distracting? “Yes, depending on the text being studied and the background information being used, historical and cultural context can be necessary, helpful, or distracting. On the whole, I think that it is normally helpful. Sometimes, in the rarest of circumstances, it is necessary. When theologians and academics are careless or ideologically driven, it can be distracting or worse.” The author shares some examples of each.

Softly, Softly, Break a Bone, HT to Challies. A couple of sweet stories about how “a soft tongue will break a bone.” (Proverbs 25:15).

It’s OK to be Obsessed with Something. “Parents of young children can often scold themselves for getting distracted over things like these: little side trips into things that interest them for one reason or another. But I want to encourage you: it’s good for you to be curious. It’s good for you to be interested. Maybe it’s good for you to be a little bit obsessed with something or other.”

Peace is as infectious as panic. If my soul is quietly at rest in God, then others will share my peace, because I share His. — Elisabeth Elliot

Laudable Linkage

Posted on January 31, 2026 by Barbara Harper

This had been a great week for blogging. I found more than the usual number of good links to share

Where Is God’s Love When Life Goes Wrong? HT to Challies. “Measuring our Lord’s love for us by our circumstances leads to a pile of wilted petals on the floor, an empty stem in hand, and a discontented heart within. So, how might we measure his love?”

Faith in the Middle of the Mess. “Scripture does not ask us to pretend harm didn’t happen or to spiritualize away real suffering. Scripture shows us how to navigate the hard—how to name the pain, confusion, and dismay while simultaneously holding on to the greater truth that God is good and His plans for us are good, even when life is hard.”

How We Got Our English Bible. “The point isn’t remembering all of the dates and names, but it is getting the flow and seeing the providential hand of God who not only inspired the Scripture to be written in the first place, but has preserved it as it was passed on from generation to generation and one language to another.”

What Exactly Are We Claiming About the Bible? HT to Knowable Word. “When Christians open the Bible and say, ‘This is the Word of God,’ what exactly are we claiming? We need to be precise here, because confusion at this point creates confusion everywhere else. And in a world where the courtroom never seems to adjourn, you need to know what kind of authority you are dealing with when you open the Scriptures.”

3 Reasons to Be Exhilarated–Not Intimidated–By the Bible. “This is the year! Finally, we’re going to fall in love with the Bible—no matter how much it has intimidated us. After all, people do it all the time. We’re determined to become one of those for whom the Bible exhilarates rather than intimidates. The good news is that, as intimidating as the Bible can sometimes feel, the number of ways it exhilarates our souls far exceeds any of its intimidation factors. Here are three ways this is true.”

The Winter of Our Contentment. “I’ve been thinking lately about contentment, about the desire that I have to really live in the moment and enjoy it for what it is.” Melissa goes on to talk about how that’s harder in some days and seasons than others, but possible with God’s help.

Applying the Gospel. “They know the gospel has changed their past and secured their future, but they don’t know how the gospel applies to the present—how it works in the day-to-day realities, challenges, and struggles of life.”

Trading the To-Do List for Rhythms of Grace. “For years, my spiritual life felt like one big to-do list—go to church, complete my Bible reading plan, share my faith, etc. If I didn’t check every box perfectly, I worried God would be disappointed in me. I imagined the Lord sitting on His throne in the heavenly clouds with a clipboard, grading my performance for Him.”

Time Management Tips from the Life of Christ. “I recently finished highlighting my way through the book of Matthew. As I read through this gospel, I took special note of how Jesus managed His time and priorities. Here are three time management lessons from the life of our Lord that I think we would do well to imitate in our own lives.”

Amplify Not a Fool by Responding to His Folly. It’s often hard to know when, how, and how much to engage with online foolishness, even with a desire to shed light. But we need to consider whether that engagement is actually giving foolish words and people a wider audience.

Who Is Rich and Who Is Poor? HT to Challies. “In determining who is rich and who is poor, we subconsciously compare ourselves to those above and below us. We do this whether we are in an American suburb or in a rustic hospital room in East Africa. There is always someone richer and always someone poorer than us. This relative understanding of wealth and poverty can make Scripture’s teaching on the subject confusing. Who then is rich and who is poor—and how do Christ’s commands to generosity apply to each of us?”

Does Your Life Inspire Questions from Your Grandkids? “Let Joshua’s words be a challenge to you: ‘When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them…’ What are you doing to pile stones of remembrance in the path of your grandkids?”

I Want to Finish Well for God’s Glory. “But 50 stopped me in my tracks with the dawning realization that I’m most likely entering the final third of my life. How much longer will I have to live and serve the Lord? 25 years? 20 years? Less? Only God know, but this milestone prompted me to step back and consider a vital question: what does it look like to finish well with whatever years the Lord entrusts to me?”

Doom-Scrolling Mozart, HT to Challies. “I receive more information in a day than many people throughout history received in their entire lives. I may not know most of my neighbors’ names, but I am now a global citizen with the responsibility to be informed about current events. But I’m not meant to bear that load. Neither are you.”

The Christian and Media, Part 4. As the author says, Christians may come out at different places on specifics. But there are some Scriptural principles that can guide us in our media and entertainment choices.

Dribs and Drabs, HT to the Story Warren. This is written for writers, but it’s true for everyone that small efforts can add up.

The best way of increasing our knowledge of God’s infinite nature, is by the reverent study of His Word. It is a flimsy religion which discounts doctrine. What the bones are to the body, doctrine is to our moral and spiritual life. F. B. Meyer, Our Daily Walk

Laudable Linkage

Posted on January 24, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Some of the good reading found this week:

A (God-Centered) Path from Anxiety to Peace. “In the past, when I turned to prayer in times of anxiety, my focus largely remained on the cause of my anxiety and my desire for his peace. It remained on me, my circumstances, my desires. In fact, praying in this way often increased my anxiety. What I needed was to shift my focus.”

Not a Hindrance, But a Prerequisite. “Many Christians feel they are too unholy or too sinful to participate in the Lord’s Supper. They come to the table downcast, convinced that their sin makes them unworthy. They may refuse to participate at all. But the reality is that being a sinner and having an awareness of that sin is not a hindrance to the Lord’s Supper, but a prerequisite.”

Benefits of Reading Your Bible Every Day, HT to Knowable Word. “Whether you have just become a follower of Christ or have been one for many years, establishing a daily habit of reading the Bible is great medicine for the soul and the means of living effectively in daily life.”

Your Only Sure Protection from the Tragedy of Moral Collapse. “Perhaps Yancey’s parting gift to the evangelical world as he withdraws from public life will be the realization that there’s not a one of us who is immune to the siren call of sin. Every one of us needs to examine our own hearts and pay attention. At age 63, I still have plenty of time to make an unholy mess of my life.”

The Value in Learning to Struggle. “‘We’ve been married for four days,’ we said, practically giggling. I’ll never forget the weathered waitress looking us over and saying ominously, ‘Welp, I hope it lasts.’ Her words would come back to me just weeks later, after the real world had come crashing over our love affair like a wall of water.”

A Helpful Motto for When You’re Exhausted and Overwhelmed. “I didn’t have near the full plate that my friend carried at the time, but I know what it’s like to trudge around all day in a perpetual state of overwhelmedness. I’m not talking about being a bit too busy or somewhat over-committed. Rather, this has to do with the kind of mind-numbing fatigue that stems from circumstantial, hormonal, relational or physical factors that often are beyond our control.”

On Unjust Magistrates: The Doctrine of Interposition. “The doctrine of interposition assumes that magistrates are accountable to a higher moral authority. The laws that they enact can be judged as either just or unjust. The most unjust laws are those that require people to do what is wrong or that forbid people from doing what is morally obligatory. These laws are not only unjust, but immoral. Magistrates must never enact immoral laws. But they often do”

We can all start afresh! However far we have ascended, there is something higher; and however far we have fallen, it is always possible to make a fresh start. F. B. Meyer