Here is a collection of good reads gathered from across the internet this past week. Enjoy!
On husbands caring for their wives: Three Ways to Minister to Your Wife’s Weary Soul by Joshua Hedger
Wherever this post finds you and your wife, know that your job is not to fix your wife’s tiredness, but your responsibility is to minister to her when she finds herself in this place. Hear that, husband: tired is ok. You cannot create an environment for your wife that is perfect and you cannot protect her from weariness. It’s part of the calling. However, you can minister to her soul when she becomes weary. Here are 3 simple, practical ways to do so… (click here to read more)
On parenting: Parents, You Can’t Build Heaven Here by Stephen Witmer
We’re called to parent our children toward eternity. This is a major challenge. It turns out to be remarkably difficult to keep our hearts fixed on God’s future new creation rather than attempting to seize that future in our present. Parents attempt to establish heaven on earth in at least two common ways. Some of us expect our children to be heaven for us. Others expect to build heaven for them. (click here to read more)
Another on parenting, specifically fathering: Be the Father You Want to Be by Darrin Patrick
Most guys fail to parent their children well because they don’t know how to parent themselves. Men that don’t know how to handle their own immaturity and failings are at a loss when it comes to their children’s immaturity and failings. Men tend to go in one of two directions. They either fail to appropriately grieve their brokenness or they fail to acknowledge their brokenness. They are either beat up by grief, which expresses itself in passivity, or are blown up by pride, which manifests itself as dominance… (click here to read more)
On religious freedom in our culture: Debunking Four Myths about Religious Freedom by Russell Moore
Such advocacy for religious freedom for all has a rich history among American Christians, including the most conservative evangelicals. Early Baptists like John Leland, for example, spoke out for “soul freedom” for Jews and Muslims and even atheists at a time when few even existed in this country. The point was that religious freedom is not a spoil of government, dispensed to those with the most votes. Rather, religious freedom is a natural right, recognized by government but not legislated into existence by government. (click here to read more)
On authenticity and holiness in a Christian’s life: Has ‘Authenticity’ Trumped Holiness? by Brett McCracken
Evangelicalism—both on the individual and institutional level—is trying hard to purge itself of a polished veneer that smacked of hypocrisy. But by focusing on brokenness as proof of our “realness” and “authenticity,” have evangelicals turned “being screwed up” into a badge of honor, its own sort of works righteousness? Has authenticity become a higher calling than, say, holiness? (click here to read more)
First Baptist Church 