Links for the Weekend (2026-02-20)

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

The Only Way Out Is Through

Marc Sims contends that every difficulty presents us with a choice: will we give up or make it through? He points to Jesus as our hope and help in these moments.

I’m grateful for many technological innovations we have. I am grateful for the computer I am writing these thoughts out on. But I am aware of how the material circumstances of my culture have imprinted something deep in my lizard-brain: I should not have to do hard things. I am certain that every human being in every age would feel exasperated trying to get a key off an overly tight key-ring, tie a wiggling toddler’s shoes, or navigate an automated customer-service phone call with a health insurance company…but I think I feel it uniquely. I, who have been given titan-like powers through my iPhone and computer, can find it more plausible than any other previous generation that the material world should bow to my will. It doesn’t, of course. But it feels like it should. When most of my life is spent sinking digital nails effortlessly into digital boards, it feels mildly outrageous when a real one bends crooked.

Three Things That Make Temptation Flee

Jacob Crouch offers us just what his title promises: three things to think about to help in the fight against temptation.

But for the Christian, there is a real sense in which these temptations no longer lord over us. We are no longer bound to obey them anymore. Even on this side of heaven we experience real victory over sin and temptation. Those are glorious seasons when our hearts are lifted to heaven and we do the things that we really want to do. What are those things that make sin seem so silly? What is our frame of mind when temptations lose their shimmer? I want to point out three things that make temptations flee.

The Flood

Our poem of the week: The Flood, by Kate Bluett. This poem reflects upon creation and the mercy of God in his Son.

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article I wrote called The Uncomfortable Reason God is Kind to His People. 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. 

Links for the Weekend (2025-03-14)

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

Life Will Not Get Easier

Stephen Witmer uses the book of Nehemiah to puncture the lie that life will just get easier if we can get past the current challenge. He shows how this story offers help for our current seasons of life, not just the future.

You’ve probably seen medication commercials featuring ridiculously fit and happy older people with silver hair and perfect teeth playing tennis and laughing in a carefree fashion. That’s the lie. It’s not true. In many years of pastoral ministry, I’ve seen numerous people work hard and honor God through their childrearing years and careers only to retire and face increased challenges. Friends move away. Misunderstandings with grown children occur. Spouses die. Medications multiply. Often, retirement isn’t a quiet harbor but the open ocean.

How to Be Confident in the Resurrection: Look to Its First Witnesses

With Easter happening next month, it’s not too early to think about the resurrection of Jesus. This is the center of the Christian faith, and one of the best arguments for the resurrection is the testimony of those early witnesses.

How can anyone be confident that the resurrection really happened? The first followers of Jesus didn’t claim their leader rose from the dead because of gullible ignorance or blind faith. They knew dead people stay dead. Especially after they began to be persecuted, they had nothing to gain by persisting in their claim that Jesus had returned to life.

Yet some of these women and men had encountered an event so momentous they were ready to die rather than deny they saw a once-dead man alive. These initial eyewitnesses declared what they experienced, and in some cases they died for what they declared. At least a few of their firsthand testimonies eventually found their way into the New Testament.

dalliance

Our poem of the week: dalliance, by Chris Wheeler. This short poem is about a morning commute and the ways we pass by one another.


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