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