Tag: Book Reviews

Trends come and go. Certain habits or interests rise for a time, wane, then rise again, often at unexpected moments. One of the recent trends I have found particularly surprising and also particularly interesting is the rise (or re-rise, if you prefer) of liturgy. This may be liturgy within formal worship services of the local church or liturgy within times of private worship. Did this trend begin with Douglas McKelvey’s Every Moment Holy series? If it didn’t begin there, his books certainly popularized it. Regardless, over the past few years we have seen a substantial number of books that share liturgies for times of worship.See AlsoNew and Notable Christian Books for October 2024A La Carte (October 31)A La Carte (October 16)

Here is something I have been considering over the past few days: Every one of us acknowledges there is a lamentable lack of unity among Christians today. Yet none of us seems to consider that we ourselves may be the cause of that disunity, or at least contribute to it. In our minds, it is always other people who fracture the peace and disrupt the harmony. But sometimes I wonder: Could I be one of the bad guys? Unity Conrad Mbewe God created us as social beings. God, who is himself triune and who has enjoyed perfect and unbroken communion within the godhead, created us in his image as beings who are communal. Yet because of our fall into sin, what should only ever have brought joy now brings pain. Where we should be displaying the kind of unity that pleases and imitates God, we now display the kind of disunity that displeases and grieves him. Sadly, this is true even in the local church and even in the wider community of those who have been redeemed. In fact, sometimes it seems easier to see evidence of disunity than unity, of fighting than harmony. Yet we cannot allow ourselves to be content with this sad situation. Rather, we must learn to exist in harmony and to genuinely love one another. This is true of the relationships between individual Christians, true of the local church, and true of the church across the globe. This kind of unity is the subject of Conrad Mbewe’s book Unity: Striving…See AlsoWeekend A La Carte (October 17)When a Million Gather on The Mall Next MonthOne Another – The Bible And Community – Unity

A while back I realized I needed to brush up on some of these and began to organize a system of spaced repetition—a way to encounter these doctrines on a regular basis, thus reinforcing them and keeping them fresh in my mind. And it was right then…See AlsoMy New Book “Pilgrim Prayers” Releases Today!Reformed Presbyterian Theological JournalReformation21 Blog

We are not lacking when it comes to daily devotionals. To the contrary, there are more options than we could possibly read in a lifetime. Yet not all daily devotionals are created equal, so it can be difficult to find a good one—one that is worthy of a full year’s attention.See AlsoWeekend A La Carte (August 24)Christmas Devotionals for Groups, Individuals, and FamiliesDevotionals I Recommend for a New Year

It has been a few years since I have had a substantial number of people reach out to ask my view on a particular author. Do you know anything about him? Have you read him? Would you consider reviewing some of his books? But after this break of a few years, it has recently begun anew with John Mark Comer. I, too, have heard his name and seen his books on the lists of bestsellers. Yet I had not read anything by him. Eventually, based on all the inquiries, I decided to buy and read his most recent title, Practicing the Way, which seems to be a kind of culmination of his earlier works. Practicing the Way John Mark Comer There is often a certain degree of sameness to Christian publishing and, sure enough, I was only a few pages in before I thought, “Oh, we’ve been here before!” About twenty years ago many popular authors were discovering or rediscovering the traditions of the mystics and monastics. As they did so, they curtailed or dismissed certain aspects of traditional Protestantism in favor of elements drawn largely from Roman Catholicism. And in many ways, this is what Comer has done for a whole new generation of readers. Practicing the Way has an understandable appeal. Comer focuses a lot of attention on some of the obvious and frustrating shortcomings of contemporary Evangelicalism. He addresses the common longing for a faith that is more substantial than what so many churches teach and more grounded in ancient practices. If…See AlsoFree Stuff FridaysA La Carte (8/27)Book Review – Fool’s Gold

It has always been important that children establish their identity. From the time kids are young, they are being formed in a host of ways and gradually coming to terms with who they are and who they will become. Historically, identity arose from outside—from the people they came from, the place they were born, and the expectations of parents and community. An innovation of the modern West is that identity is now expected to come from within. Identity is meant to be determined by the self rather than anyone or anything else.See Also12 Key Statements on Human SexualityA La Carte (November 27)4 Ways to Help your Teenagers Discover Their Identity In a Confused World

It does me good to pause from time to time to read an account of a person coming to faith. It never ceases to fascinate me how many different paths we take to that one door and it never ceases to encourage me to read about another person’s experience of coming to the end of themselves before finally entrusting themselves to the Lord. God is endlessly creative in the ways in which he draws his people to himself. The Thing That Would Make Everything Okay Forever Ashely Lande Ashley Lande spent much of her life looking for The Thing That Would Make Everything Okay Forever. That search led her down many different paths, but the one that most compelled and attracted her was psychedelics. She revered them and related to them almost as if they were a god, the means through which she would come to complete self-understanding, complete wholeness—the means through which she would achieve transcendence. From the first time Lande tasted a psilocybin mushroom she was hooked and eventually graduated to LSD and other psychedelic substances. She was never a junkie as she might have been had she pursued hard drugs, but she was addicted nonetheless—addicted to the experience, to the effects, and perhaps most of all, to the conviction that these drugs would eventually bring her a kind of salvation. There was no single thunderclap moment that broke her commitment to drugs and made her loyal to Jesus. Rather, it was a succession of small moments—faithful Christians living godly lives, faithful churches…See AlsoThe Angel of PatienceWeeping Goes Forth the SowerA La Carte (2/7)

We live at an interesting time, a time in which so much is changing. Norms that have existed and been accepted for decades or even centuries are quickly fading and being supplanted by what is new and novel. This is especially true of those norms that were based on Scripture and its instruction on what is right and wrong, true and false, beautiful and ugly.See AlsoA Field Guide on Gender and SexualityThe Light of the Reformation was the Light of the BibleLigonier Conference (VII)

I am often surprised and dismayed when I hear Christians speak about the way God feels about them. So many believers live with the conviction that God is generally displeased with them, that he regards them with a sense of disappointment. They may even believe he has a sense of regret that he reached out to them and saved them. While they believe they are forgiven and will someday be accepted into heaven, they carry the sense that God will welcome them reluctantly and more out of a sense of obligation than delight.See AlsoNew and Notable Christian Books for July 2024New and Notable Christian Books for June 2024And You Shall Never Displease Me

I’m sure every generation of parents has had to have some tricky and awkward conversations with their children. Just read your Old and New Testaments and you’ll see the kind of sexual chaos that has often been tolerated or celebrated in various times and places. Each one of these manifestations of rebellion against God has needed an explanation from parents who are committed to raising their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.See AlsoParents Need to Act NowThe Folly Bound Up in the Heart of a ChildHearing and Heeding God’s Word

As Christians, we are unapologetic about this fact: Everything hinges on the Bible. All we believe, all we proclaim, all we do, all we hope for—it all depends on Scripture. If the Bible is not true, our faith is not true. If the Bible is not reliable, our faith is not reliable. If the Bible is not trustworthy, we are most to be pitied.See AlsoA La Carte (August 2)A Field Guide on Gender and SexualityA La Carte (July 19)

Wouldn’t it be nice if Christians only ever got along? Wouldn’t it be grand if all the discord we see in the world around us was completely foreign to the church? Wouldn’t it be heavenly if believers ever only experienced peace? I suppose it would be heavenly and, therefore, more than we can realistically hope for in this life. That being the case, we need to learn to deal with conflict—conflict within both the local church and the wider church.See AlsoA La Carte (June 27)The Beginner’s Guide to Conflict ResolutionMeet the Ministries: Peacemaker Ministries