Laudable Linkage

Posted on April 6, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Here’s another weekly round-up of good online reads.

Sacrifice Is the Beginning. “Maybe the giving up, the surrendering, is not the end at all. Maybe it is the very beginning of something new, something bigger, and more purposeful.”

Longing for More, HT to Challies. “On a soul level, whether in our highest or lowest moments, we know from our earliest memories that something critical is missing. And God shows us in all kinds of ways that He is that vital ingredient.”

Resurrection Sunday Hope for a Tuesday Afternoon. “While we can’t ride the Easter high every day of the year (the jelly bean supply just can’t keep up!), the hope of the resurrection never wanes. You can have hope, joy, and peace in the middle of your Tuesday doldrums or Thursday despair because Jesus is our risen Savior.”

Is the Lord’s Supper a Feast or a Funeral? HT to Challies. “When we approach the Lord’s Supper we should do so with an attitude marked primarily by joy, and not sorrow. We come singing and rejoicing, not mourning or weeping. Yet, how can this be if the thought of death pervades the very foundations of the sacrament? The answer lies in the gospel.”

Is the ‘Silent Treatment’ a Godly Approach to Conflict? HT to Challies. Though I agree with the writer that silence and withdrawal shouldn’t be used as punishment, some quiet time lets emotions cool down and helps us process what the conflict was all about and how to deal with it.

10 Reasons to Hate Hospitality and 10 ways to rethink it.

Jesus destroyed sin by letting it destroy him.

That he, the God of life, should conquer death by embracing it.
That he should destroy the power of sin by letting it destroy him.
Joni Eareckson Tada, When God Weeps

Laudable Linkage

Posted on March 30, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Here’s my weekly list of good reads:

Jesus Was No Victim. “It was physically dark, as the very sun refused to shine on the crucifixion of its Maker (Matthew 27:45). And it was morally dark, as a collection of bitter rivals joined to commit history’s most grotesque crime, the murder of the Son of God. Scripture holds Jesus’ murderers guilty for their crime (Acts 2:24, 36; 3:13-15; 4:10, 27). And yet, it would be wrong for us to see Jesus as the victim.”

The Silence of the Lamb. Adrian Rogers discusses why Jesus did not explain or defend Himself during His trials before crucifixion. One of my favorite parts of this: “If Jesus had risen up in his own defense during his trials, I believe that he would have been so powerful and irrefutable in making his defense that no governor, high priest, or other legal authority on earth could have stood against him! In other words, if Jesus had taken up his own defense with the intention of refuting his accusers and proving his innocence, he would have won! But we would have lost, and we would be lost for all eternity.”

How to Protect Your Kids from Sexual Abuse, HT to Challies. “Parents, educators, caring adults, and the church have grown more alert to the need to teach kids tangible ways to stay safe from abuse. Since concerned adults like you and me can’t always be with children, we must educate them in concrete, child-appropriate safety skills.”

Jesus Loves Me, This I Know, HT to the Story Warren. A mother reflects on what her son has taught her about Jesus’ love on World Down Syndrome Day.

On Whales, Menopause, and Thanks to God, HT to Challies. “In God’s good design, we humans share this somewhat rare life stage with only six other species on earth. Humans, however, are the only creatures who are able to reflect upon the experience of menopause, and even (stay with me here) thank God for it.”

Talk to God About What Hurts, HT to Challies. “When life is painful, God invites us to talk to Him about it. He wants us to cry out to him in humility–to talk to him about what hurts–that we might grow in our childlike trust in Him and His Word.”

Just Checking In: How’s Your Bible Reading Plan Going? HT to Challies. “I want to give a little encouragement for those who are trying to read through the Bible this year.”

Does God Care How You Cook Your Goat? The verses in the Old Testament about not boiling a baby goat in its mother’s milk are puzzling, both from the standpoint of why it was a law at the time and how it applies to us today. Tim Challies shares a couple of interpretations and applications.

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

Laudable Linkage

Posted on March 23, 2024 by Barbara Harper

I have a fairly short list of good reads to share with you this week:

In What Way Is Jesus the Way? “Jesus is the Way to God. You can’t get there by being kind, by being the church lady with all the casseroles, or even by teaching Sunday school for fifty years (as good as all those things are!) He is the way because he is also the truth and the life.”

One of the Most Urgent Biblical Commands for Our Day. “One of the most urgent biblical commands for our day—and perhaps for any day—is to speak the truth in love. Different people at different times tend to overemphasize one of the two factors and underemphasize the other so that some lean away from truth while others lean away from love. But the Lord expects that we will do both without competition or contradiction.”

Valiant and Virtuous: Celebrating Single Women of the Bible. “Singleness can be a challenging yet rewarding season in life. Society often emphasizes marriage and relationships, and navigating this path can sometimes feel isolating. However, the Bible offers a powerful message of hope and purpose for single Christian women.”

In flight, HT to Challies. “We have a long flight ahead. Fourteen hours or so. Beforehand, I’ve asked for a heart attentive to His prompting. And for willing availability, boldness to share the gospel. It’s not my first thought on airplanes lately, to be honest. I’d rather chill in my own little world. Enjoy the extended “pause” from daily tasks. But as he’s seated, I pray for wisdom. To listen and obey.”

The Introvert, HT to Challies.. “We live in a noisy world, do we not? Deafening, in fact. A chaotic culture with throngs of people highly uncomfortable with silence. It is considered prestigious to fill up one’s time indiscriminately, often to the neglect of one’s soul.”

G. Campbell Morgan quote about the cross of Christ

“The vulgarity of the cross is the vulgarity of the sin that erected it—but the cross flames with light, the light of the glory of the grace of God, Who took sin into His own heart and cancelled it by the shedding of blood.” —G. Campbell Morgan

Laudable Linkage

Posted on March 16, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Here are some of the posts that caught my attention this week:

Hard-Pressed: The Soul Anguish of Christ. “Gethsemane. The word comes from a Hebrew term that means ‘oil press’—appropriately named, because that night, among the olive trees, the Son of God would be ‘pressed’ beyond anything we can fathom.”

How to Do an Inductive Bible Study, HT to Knowable Word. “Learning to read and study Scripture is an important part of the Christian life. And while pastors and teachers are essential gifts of Christ to his church, individual Christians should also be able to pick up any passage and read it with basic understanding and application. How do you do that? The inductive Bible study method is one reliable way.”

We Who Have Few Talents and Sparse Gifts. “The fact is, the God who used spit and dust to cure a man of his blindness can most certainly make use of you. And I assure you that if you had great talents, you would simply compare yourself to those who have more still.”

Six Simple Ways to Handle False Guilt. “God has given each of us a conscience, and this conscience guides us in doing right. When we become a child of God, we are gifted with the Holy Spirit, which fine tunes our consciences to align with the will and view of God. If we choose to ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit, we’ll be chided. This is true guilt. . . . False guilt is the opposite. It’s what we feel for imagined wrongs or for past wrongs for which we’ve been forgiven.”

My Body Reminds Me. “Every day as I live within my body, care for it, and consider my reflection in the mirror, I am faced with a series of undeniable realities.”

Am I the Quarrelsome Wife? HT to Challies. “Rather than being a haven in the storm, the contentious woman is the storm. She is, herself, the poor weather conditions; her presence is an inhospitable place.”

Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. C. S. Lewis

Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Laudable Linkage

Posted on March 9, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Here are a few thought-provoking posts from the last week:

7 Blessings Older Saints Offer the Church, HT to Challies. “My grandparents, with their godly example, aren’t alone. Their example of faithfulness is afforded to every saint who lingers on this earth into old age. In fact, older Christians have some of the most important lessons to teach the local church today.”

Be the Church Member You Want Your Church to Have. HT to Challies. “Paul addresses the Romans who are having some disputes, and he starts with this glorious phrase: ‘so far as it depends on you’ (Rom 12:18). In other words, he deflects the attention away from ‘those people’ and shines the light on ‘you’. Paul knows that focusing on ‘those people’ is a dead end street. You can’t do anything, not really, about anyone else. But do you know who you can affect? YOU!”

Visible Grace in Disagreements, HT to Challies. “Here are three things we should strive for: Christians who are willing to confront but aren’t eager for controversy. Christians who pursue a gentle revival, not a holy war. Christians who eavesdrop on Jesus’ intercession instead of joining Satan’s accusations.”

Do You Want My Opinion? HT to Challies. “In the past week, I’ve had two experiences that confirm a need to get a better grip on how I share what I think about current events.”

Elisabeth Elliot, My Dear Mother. This was a blog by Elisabeth Elliot’s daughter, Valerie, and this particular post was written just after Elisabeth passed away in 2015. I don’t remember if I have seen it before, but it was shared this week on the Elisabeth Elliot Quotes Facebook page.

Doesn’t a Library-Themed Hotel sound ideal for a book-lover’s vacation? It’s expensive, and it’s located in NYC, not a place I have any desire to go to. But maybe this idea will catch on with more accessible places and prices. HT to Dan Balow.

“A saint in this life is like gold in the ore, much dross of infirmity cleaves to him, yet we love him for the grace that is in him. A saint is like a fair face with a scar: we love the beautiful face of holiness, though there be a scar in it. The best emerald has its blemishes, the brightest stars their twinklings, and the best of the saints have their failings. You that cannot love another because of his infirmities, how would you have God love you?” Thomas Watson

Laudable Linkage

Posted on March 2, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Here are some of the noteworthy reads found this week:

Was It All a Waste? HT to Challies. “Maybe you know the crush of rejection, the feel of wasted effort and time. Possibly, you know the sting of unappreciated labor.”

What Makes for a Rich and Meaningful Devotional Life? “One of the most frequent questions I’ve been asked over the years (and one I struggled with myself as a young woman) is this: ’I know I’m supposed to be having a devotional time with God every day. What does that look like?’ The short answer is that there’s no short answer to that question!”

How Not to Apply the Bible, HT to Challies. “Here are four questions that will help you arrive at reliable applications of any section of the Bible.”

On the same topic, Examples of Wrestling through the Prescriptive/Descriptive Debate. “Is this passage prescribing something we should imitate (or avoid), or is it simply describing what the characters did in their setting? I proposed that we can often eliminate the need for such a debate if we focus on applying the passage’s main point.”

Wherever He Leads, He’ll Go, HT to Challies. “I nearly invited him to test me, telling him in a long, journaled prayer that wherever he led, I would most certainly go. I banked on my obedience. I would be stalwart, no matter what came. But life came. And the Lord led me to places I longed to escape from.”

5 Ways to Personalize the Lord’s Prayer. “Prayer can feel difficult sometimes—knowing how and when to do it or what and how to say it. We can find comfort in knowing we aren’t alone with our uncertainties and questions. Even Jesus’ disciples asked Him how to pray and He provides a direct answer—what we know as the Lord’s prayer.”

7 Parenting Errors That Can Influence Adult Children to Leave the Faith, HT to Challies. “When we married back in the 1980s, we dreamed of imparting a lifelong faith to our children and thus helping sustain Christ’s kingdom for the next generation. But it didn’t work out that way.” This is a multi-faceted issue. Children have their own will, and no parent is free of mistakes. But the errors mentioned here are worthy of consideration.

Order, Preparation, and the Spirit’s Leading, HT to Challies. I’ve heard exaltation of spontaneity over preparation as more spiritual in activities besides preaching and worship as well. I appreciate what Jacob says here. “Why don’t we see that a pastor’s careful pouring over the Scriptures in prayer and quiet meditation as just as much the Spirit’s leading as a passion-filled moment in the pulpit? How do we think the depths of Scripture are plumbed? ‘These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God’ (1 Cor 2:10). Planning and preparation are not enemies of the Spirit.”

Such changes are for us decreed;
Believers have their winters too;
But spring shall certainly succeed,
And all their former life renew.
–From the hymn “Though Cloudy Skies and Northern Blasts”
by John Newton

Laudable Linkage

Posted on February 24, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Here are some of the good posts found this week. The list is a little longer since I’ve had a chance to catch up on blog reading.

When You Don’t Want to Read the Word. “Remember when you couldn’t get enough of the Bible? Lately though, you make your coffee and start your morning; you’ve missed a few days of devotional reading. It’s not that you don’t love God’s Word—it’s just that in the busyness of life it doesn’t seem to have the same hold on you it once did. The craving isn’t there. The desire has dried up.”

Tunawa Leah. “Friends, another year has passed, and my heart remains burdened for this precious child of God. I first shared Leah Sharibu’s story of faith in the face of extreme persecution with you in January 2020. This year marks the sixth anniversary of this young lady’s captivity and enslavement at hands of ISIS-WA (aka Boko Haram) in Nigeria.”

4 Lesser-Known Women of the Bible {And What They Can Teach Us Today} “Sometimes in our day-to-day lives, in the struggles, we can feel unseen and underappreciated. More like those in the Bible who are not as well-known. Today I’d like to look at several of those lesser-known women in the Bible: Jehosheba, Abigail, Lois, and Eunice. You may not even recognize their names right off, which makes them perfect to discuss today.”

The Evangelist on the Titanic. “While the story of the Titanic is one of disaster, it is also a story of great heroism and of great faith. Numbered among those who drowned in the tragedy was a Scottish Baptist evangelist named John Harper.”

Worse Than Any Affliction: Why I Refuse to Grumble, HT to Challies. “My flesh is wasting away, and who would blame me if I complained? Certainly not the world — it’s natural for them to expect an old lady in a wheelchair to grumble over her losses. But followers of Jesus Christ should expect more from me. Much more.”

When the Walk Becomes a Crawl, HT to Challies. “The key to getting a long view of sanctification is to understand direction. What matters most is not the distance you’ve covered. It’s not the speed you’re going. It’s not how long you’ve been a Christian. It’s the direction you’re heading.”

Jesus Didn’t Diss the Poor: Making Sense of Matthew 26:11, HT to Challies. “In perhaps one of the oddest moments of the passion narrative, Jesus seemingly sets himself at odds with his disciples’ concern for the poor. Breaking ranks with the twelve, Jesus did not think Mary should have ‘given to the poor’ the money that she had used to purchase the oil needed to anoint Jesus’s feet.”

Westminster Abbey and the Danger of Inhospitality, HT to Challies. “Biblical hospitality forefronts our neighbor, not ourselves. Hospitality is about making someone else feel honored, loved, and comfortable.”

Applying Paul’s Great Commission Lifestyle Principles. “As we observe Paul’s life and teachings, especially 1 Corinthians 9, we see that he willingly laid aside ‘rights’ to his preferred lifestyle to be a more effective servant of Christ.” The context here is cross-cultural missions, but this is how we should be thinking and praying in all our interactions.

Why We Always Need More Books on Every Subject, HT to Challies. “‘Because we already have several good books on subject X, we do not need more books on subject X,’ the logic goes. I will push back on this logic for the following reasons below. You may not agree with all my reasons, but hopefully, they will deeper your appreciation for books.”

The Neurodivergent Believer, HT to Challies. “As believers, we acknowledge that God created each brain uniquely. The Apostle Paul describes this diversity within the body of Christ, emphasizing that each member has a distinct role (1 Cor. 12:12–27). Despite this diversity, being neurodivergent in a predominately neurotypical world can present unique challenges.”

Elisabeth Elliot The Secret is Christ in Me

The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.
–Elisabeth Elliot

Laudable Linkage

Posted on February 17, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Due to a busy week and not much blog reading time, I have just a short but good list of reads to share:

An Unexpected Love Calls You to Rise and Follow. Though this was written for Valentine’s Day, I think it’s good for any time of year. I’m often wary of Biblical fiction, but I loved Michele’s look into what Abigail in the Old Testament might have been thinking and feeling during her marriage to a fool and her quick thinking in intercepting David.

The Moral Perfection of Christ. “They followed Him without question because no matter what His appearance, His beauty was unmistakable. He possessed every grace, every virtue, in perfect tension and balance. Not one of them was missing. Think of that. We’ve never seen what sheer perfection looks like in a person. Perfect symmetry between the inner and the outer. Perfect alignment of heart and character. It’s almost impossible to envision such perfection. But there it is in Jesus.”

Bible Study Leaders Must Be Flexible. “Leading real Bible studies means that the Bible comes into contact with real people, and the lives of real people are often messy and difficult. But these difficulties are not interruptions to our plans—this is what it means to lead people and help them apply the Bible in their lives.”

Eleven Expressions of Gastronomic Humility, HT to Challies. “Keeping up with our kids’ ever-shifting food preferences, on top of their health issues, has been a difficult dynamic of this season. We talk a lot about food at this stage of our family life.”

The Ones Who Cook, HT to Challies. “We admire our preachers, for they way they teach us God’s words. We look up to our worship leaders, who inspire us to praise. Or the leaders who teach or administrate or organize or make plain spaces beautiful. But I’d like to suggest that one of the greatest gifts that God gives a church are the people who cook.”

Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds. — Shakespeare

Laudable Linkage

Posted on February 9, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Here are some of the good posts seen this week:

How Do I Find the Main Point of a Psalm (or a larger passage of Scripture), HT to Knowable Word. John Piper likens understanding larger passages of Scripture to working a jigsaw puzzle. Great illustration.

How to Prepare for a Great Morning Routine. “I’ve had the unique privilege of helping thousands of Christians refine their own Christ-honoring morning routines. And there are certain patterns that show up again and again with those who are struggling to stick with a routine like this. They all boil down to one thing: Lack of preparation.”

Be a Woman Hidden in the Church. “We live in a culture captivated by the idea of ‘making a name for yourself.’ From pop culture celebrities to Christian influencers, the world around us seems to say that in order to make any real difference you first need to have a large sphere of influence and a certain number of followers. And your name on the cover of a book doesn’t hurt. This is not the path to significance that Jesus taught.”

What to Do When You Long for Encouragement. “When it comes to my own reactions to perceived slights, I’m inclined to bypass the Golden Rule and proceed straight to feeling sorry for myself.“

Why We Cannot Cast Them Aside. “As I’ve watched my precious mom deteriorate from the devastating effects of early onset Alzheimer’s, I’ve also had to face our world’s deeply entrenched beliefs about what gives people value.“

Repairing Old Books by Deconstructing Them, HT to Steve Laube. This is a ten-minute video about a woman who restores old books by taking them apart, repairing them, and putting them back together. I worked at the university library while in college. One lady there did book repair, but not as extensive as this. I found it fascinating.

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 2, 2024 by Barbara Harper

Here are some of the good reads discovered this week:

Remember His Faithfulness. “When we look back at what God has done in the past, He fills us with hope for today and the days to come.”

Three Reasons Christians Should Oppose Abortion, HT to Challies. “We live in a highly charged political environment, and many Christians view abortion as more of a political issue than a theological and spiritual issue. This perspective often leads to prioritizing political solutions even at the expense of theological truth and spiritual power.”

Listening Well to Domestic Abuse Survivors, HT to Challies. “Domestic abuse (DA) is likely the most complex and difficult problem most counselors will ever face. Perhaps one reason for this is that these issues can be extremely counterintuitive.”

An Ordinary, Everyday Life, HT to Challies. We’re “Bought by His death and resurrection, yes. But also by His everyday, ordinary, sinless life.”

Lead Your Heart, HT to Challies. “We are to incline our hearts to God. I’m not sure if you know this, but your heart will not naturally incline itself that direction. We must posture our hearts towards God. And we must cry out to God for this inclination. Just as the Psalmist prays, ‘Incline my heart to your testimonies’” (Psa 119:36).”

Is ‘Gentle Parenting’ Biblical? HT to Challies. “If gentle parenting were just a mood board for solving parenting difficulties in nonconfrontational ways, I’d have nothing to say against it. But when you dig more deeply into the underlying concepts of gentle parenting, you find at least two that stand opposed to the Bible’s teaching about parenting.”

Confessions of a Secretly Introverted Mom, HT to The Story Warren.

Our winters shall not frown for ever; summer shall soon smile. The tide will not eternally ebb out; the floods retrace their march. The night shall not hang its darkness for ever over our souls; the sun shall yet arise with healing beneath his wings. – ‘The Lord turned again to the captivity of Job.’ Our sorrows shall have an end when God has gotten his end in them.
—C. H. Spurgeon