Links for the Weekend (2023-09-08)

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

God’s Promises Are Enough for Our Kids (and Us)

God is a promise-keeping God, and this is a strong foundation for every Christian, no matter how young.

God’s precious and very great promises are enough for our kids. And they’re enough for us too, because it’s as we know and trust them that we know and enjoy God personally. Here’s a prayer worth praying: that the go-to heart cry of all our children, throughout their lives, would simply be “Thank you, God, that you always keep your promises.”

Digital Resistance: Three Habits for the Internet Age

If digital technologies shape and form us, Samuel James argues that some resistance may be required by faithful Christians. He describes some habits that correspond to needs we have as those made by God.

My answer is that we should think not (primarily) in terms of retreat, but in terms of resistance. The bad news is that the thought patterns of the web are so embedded into modern life that we cannot effectively avoid them. The good news is that the same responsiveness to the power of habit that makes online addiction so powerful also makes analog resistance effective. 

Why Summaries are Not the Same as Main Points

When studying the Bible, it’s important to understand that summaries are not the same thing as main points. My friend Peter Krol explores the difference in this article and explains why that difference matters.

A summary is most helpful when you need to find something or remember where it’s located in the Scriptures. (“There’s a great parable about two men who prayed to God from a desire to be righteous before him. Let’s take a look at Luke 18 to see how that worked out for them.”) But a main point is crucial when it comes time to provoke change unto Christlikeness.

We’re on shaky ground if we apply only select details of a text to our lives. It’s shaky because it’s possible to go in nearly any direction with application. Using only the details enables us to steer the ship of our own lives on a heading most pleasing to us.

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article I wrote called Heaven Is Not Vacation. If you haven’t already seen it, check it out!

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here.