Here is a collection of good reads gathered over this past week:
On parenting: Three Motivations for Parents to Avoid by Jason Allen
Over the past decade, I’ve witnessed in others—and, unfortunately, in myself—three parental motivations to avoid. Like weeds that force their way through the best-cultivated garden or thickest concrete, these motivations seem stubborn, always reappearing; resilient, always resurfacing. In fact, if I could wish away three parental motives from my heart, and from others, it would be these: ambition, fear, and pride. (click here to read more)
On God’s work during the dark seasons of life: When the Clouds Gather by Collin Huber
Yet, our collective longing for peace has its place. We were created for peace and our hearts will not rest until we find it. Everyone suffers, but not all suffer well. Becoming mired and entangled in the pain often serves as the easier, though altogether enslaving option. Hope requires courage, and for the Christian, the presence of God sustains us in the difficult days. Spafford’s story, along with countless others, points to a singular truth that has rippled throughout the currents of history—God crafts beauty in the darkness. (click here to read more)
On battling fear: Pull the Mask Off of Fear by Kristin Tabb
Since death empowers the fear that drives the human race, Jesus killed death’s power, defeating it by dying himself, and then rising as Victor over it. He is the ultimate Conqueror. He did this to “deliver all those who through fear or death were subject to lifelong slavery” — you and me. (click here to read more)
On relationships, sex, and reality: My Own Personal Bollywood by Tim Challies
This fantasy is not harmless. It teaches those who watch it. It presents a form of reality that we may desire, but cannot attain. The Bollywood hero can’t actually stop a train and human begins created in God’s image cannot actually experience that Hollywood kind of intimacy just the way it is presented. This Hollywood fantasy allows us to believe that sex precedes love, that I can’t possibly know I love you until I’ve slept with you and a lot of other people besides. It allows us to believe that sex is powerful enough to be a unique form of union between a man and woman, but that sex is also meaningless enough that it can be experienced with many people over a lifetime without regret and without consequence. It allows us to believe that a sex life can be carried on through the passion of a relationship that doesn’t involve investment, difficulty, and self-denial. It is a particularly unhealthy and unrealistic fantasy. (click here to read more)
First Baptist Church 