Here is a collection of good reads gathered from across the internet this past week. Be sure to check them out!
On family devotions: How We Do Family Devotions by Tim Challies (click here to read more)
I think family devotions is like a lot of things in the Christian life: We have made it bigger than it needs to be, and therefore live with a sense of failure, a sense that we are not measuring up. Through many years of success and failure Aileen and I have realized that there is no good way to measure the success of family devotions except by this: Did we do it?
On how to deal with criticism in a good way: Guilty Until Proven Innocent by Marshall Segal (click here to read more)
Christians are often divided because we are by nature defensive. Too many divisions in the church — specifically in personal relationships — stem from insecurity and defensiveness in the face of accusation, whether real or imagined. These accusations may fall anywhere on the spectrum from an explicit and harsh rebuke to passive-aggressive concern.
On the gospel and same sex relationships: How the Gospel Ended My Same Sex Relationship by Anonymous (click here to read more)
If you land where I did then I understand that following Christ will mean giving up more than you can imagine. Take it from someone who has lied on their bedroom floor for days in a row, weeping, wanting to die, not sure of how to lose the only person they’d taken comfort in for nearly a decade. Only God can get you through a choice like that, but friends, Jesus is worth a broken heart. In fact, He’s the only One who can heal it again.
On the image of God and the good purpose of male and female: The Image of God in a Gender Neutral World by Stephen Altrogge (click here to read more)
The reason that gender matters is because God cares very much about his image. We don’t get to decide what it means to be a man or a woman. God decides that. He has created us to display his image throughout the world, and when we distort masculinity and femininity we actually distort the image of God. Do we need to avoid certain cultural stereotypes about what it means to be a man or a woman? Of course. But that doesn’t mean that we abandon the idea of gender altogether. Because God cares about gender. A lot.
First Baptist Church 