SPIRITUAL LIFE
The blessing of criticism (David Qaoud): Criticism is an unavoidable part of being a leader. As it’s been said by others, the more influence you obtain, the more criticism you must endure. It can sting to be criticized but, paradoxically, it’s not always a bad thing. In fact, criticism is a blessing in many ways. How? Read more at Gospel Relevance.
Six characteristics of gospel-shaped love (J.D. Greear): There are six characteristics of gospel-shaped friendship from Romans 12 that, if the church adopted well, would attract people more than great music or special services. In fact, people would be beating down our doors to hear more. Read more at JDGreear.com.
Fear your fear of man (Marshall Segal): If we knew how dangerous the fear of man really is, we might fear men less and fear our fears more. Other sins have beset me in my walk with Christ over the years, but few have so consistently eluded my radar like this one. Read more at Desiring God.
SUFFERING / TRIALS
When suffering drives joy away: Finding God in dry places (Vaneetha Rendall Risner): When we don’t desire God, we need to start walking toward him — a walk that anticipates delight is coming. If we lose sight of that goal and settle for a religious life fueled solely by duty, our faith will become wooden and meaningless, and we will likely fall away when tested. A perfunctory, intellectual faith alone cannot sustain us. In the end, faith without the faintest flicker of joy is not genuine faith. Read more at Desiring God.
PRAYER
“Your will be done” is powerful, not pathetic (Stephen Liggins): For some, praying that God’s will would be done is force of habit; they’ve heard it said by other people on so many occasions that they adopt it without much thought. For others it can be something of a cop-out, an escape clause. You pray for something really important, something you really care about, but you: suspect that it’s beyond God’s capacity to handle, or think God may not be particularly interested, or doubt that you have sufficient faith for your prayers to actually do So you tack “if it is your will” onto the end of your prayer. That way, when the thing you’re praying for doesn’t happen—because you suspect it won’t—you don’t feel too bad about things. You still theoretically believe that God is powerful and personal and values your prayers. Read more at Matthias Media.
LEADERSHIP
The blessing of plural elders (Stephen Kneale): Some good reminders why God designed the church to have a plurality of elders. Read more at StephenKneale.com.
5 things every Christian leader should pray every day (Kevin Halloran): While Christians can lift up thousands of different prayers for their leadership, I have found it helpful to daily focus my prayers on the following things. Read more at KevinHalloran.net.
10 characteristics of the best second chair leaders I’ve known (Chuck Lawless): It’s not always easy to be a second-chair leader, especially when you want to lead but aren’t in the primary seat of leadership. On the other hand, good second-chair leaders are important for the church. As I think of the best second-chair leaders I’ve known, I think of these characteristics. Read more at ChuckLawless.com.
CHURCH
A bunch of good reasons to saturate your worship services in the Bible (Tim Challies): Churches should have tons of Bible in their worship services, and especially to have a skilled reader read a substantial portion as an element that stands on its own. These reasons are not as directly and obviously drawn from the Bible, but are drawn from my experience and the experience of other pastors. Read more at Challies.
Entitlement is poisoning the church (Noe Garcia): Have you ever heard of anyone confessing that they have an entitlement problem? Have you ever had anyone in your small group throw in a prayer request asking for God to correct their attitude of entitlement? Let me get a little more personal. Have you ever confessed it? Me either. Entitled people don’t know they are entitled. This is why it is the silent killer of the church. It is undetected. Entitlement disguises itself in many ways. Read more at LifeWay Voices.
Is online church really the church? (Ronald L. Giese, Jr.): A long but well-thought out article for leaders to read and consider. Read more at Themelios.
Our parents should have told us: Manners for social media in polarized times (Jim Elliff): An important and hard-hitting reminder for Christians and their use of social media. Read more at Christian Communicators Worldwide.
SPIRITUAL WARFARE
8 ways the enemy is attacking churches today (Chuck Lawless): First, a caveat. While we face a real enemy in Satan and his forces, we are our own worst enemy. In no way can we blame Satan for our sinful choices. On the other hand, he is a schemer who strategizes to take down God’s people. Few of these following ways are unique to these crazy days, but here are some ways I’m seeing Satan use as we continue to respond to COVID-19. Read more at ChuckLawless.com.
CULTURE
The new/old way our culture pressures us to conform (Tim Challies): In western culture today, people who maintain a good reputation in the eyes of society are not necessarily the ones who are doing things according to law, but the ones who are doing things according to a code of honor. The law does not forbid anyone from holding to biblical convictions on traditional understandings of gender or marriage—not yet, anyway. But society applies great shame to those who hold to such convictions. Reporters show up at their homes and businesses, their names are emblazoned in headlines, their friends and family members desert them. Read more at Challies.
The gathering storm over human life (Albert Mohler): The pro-abortion movement has sown a culture of death. It attempts to destroy and to deny the sanctity of life, and the consequences are now clear to see. This is what happens when a society jettisons the moral code based in the truth that every human is an extension of God’s common grace, and a bearer of God’s image. Unless this march to death is reversed, the headlines will only become more horrifying and even deadlier. Read more at AlbertMohler.com.