5 top Christian blog posts of the week—posts on our victory in Christ, leaving and cleaving in marriage and family life, seeing Jesus face-to-face, and more by Tim Challies, J.D. Greear, Desiring God, Randy Alcorn, and more.
Claiming Victory Will Help You in the Fight
Pastor J.D. Greear captures the essence of his post quite well with his introductory words:
Suppose in your old life you had this sinful habit you didn’t like. But, time and time again, you’d fall into it, then feel bad about it, then beat yourself up, and then get better for a while, only to fall back into it again. Then, you become a Christian. But you still struggle with that habit.
So…how does our salvation in Christ change us and empower us? Learn the answer to that crucial daily life question in Claiming Victory Will Help You in the Fight.
Leave and Cleave Like a Strawberry
Doing a lot of marriage counseling and teaching, I’m always on the outlook for clear and compelling discussions of what it means to “leave and cleave” (from Genesis 2). Tim Challies provides one of the most balanced discussions of leaving and cleaving that I’ve ever heard. Here’s Tim’s summary:
“And as I think of the families I’ve known where the generations function best, they function more like strawberries than irises or wildflowers. This is true whether they share a household or live in different countries, whether they are entirely financially independent or support one another. The issue is one of expectations and obligations, of parents setting their children free and children reciprocating their great debt of care. They appropriately emphasize the discontinuity between the old family and the new, but appropriately emphasize the obligation each generation owes the other. They are independent, but not too distant. They are connected, but not suffocating. They’ve got room to grow but also room to spread their leaves.”
But don’t miss the gardening illustrations and images that provide the foundation for this summary. Read the entire brief but compelling post here at Leave and Cleave Like a Strawberry.
The Beauty and Power of a Grateful Heart
Pastor Scotty Smith has a unique blog. I call it a “prayer blog.” Every post is a prayer. Today’s post is a prayer based upon Psalm 103:1-4. The close of the prayer goes like this:
“Father, in Jesus you have removed our grave-clothes of death and have dressed us in garments of your grace. We are no longer condemned for our sins, we are crowned with your compassion. We are righteous in Christ—beloved and delighted in, and desired and enjoyed. May we be done with a navel-gazing spirit of self-pity and ingratitude. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ wonderful and merciful name.”
Read the beginning of the prayer or the “prayer exposition” of Psalm 103:1-4 at The Beauty and Power of a Grateful Heart.
They Laid Love on the Altar
At Desiring God, Valerie Elliot Shepard, the daughter of missionaries Elizabeth and Jim Elliot, shares reflections from her parents’ letters to each other from 1948-1953. Valerie writes:
“I want others to hear the love story I found in their letters, a story of my mother and father dying to self in order to bow to the authority of their Father—asking, seeking, knocking, and trusting God and his timing. I pray their unusual love, for the Lord and each other, will inspire and shape many.”
To learn more about how a human love story directs us to our ultimate love for God, read They Laid Love on the Altar.
Seeing Jesus: The Happiest-Making Sight
Randy Alcorn quotes theologian Wayne Grudem about “beatific vision.”
“When we look into the face of our Lord and he looks back at us with infinite love, we will see in him the fulfillment of everything that we know to be good and right and desirable in the universe. In the face of God we will see the fulfillment of all the longing we have ever had to know perfect love, peace, and joy, and to know truth and justice, holiness and wisdom, goodness and power, and glory and beauty.”
Learn more about what it will be like when we see Jesus face-to-face in Seeing Jesus; The Happiest-Making Sight.
Join the Conversation
Which post impacted you the most? Why and how?
What additional blog posts from the past week do you recommend?
