Wisdom For Your Weekend: your weekly installment of things we’ve been reading (and watching) around the web.
Articles of the Week
5 Questions I Wish My Accountability Partner Would Ask Me, Brad Hambrick. “I don’t like the word ‘accountability partner’ any more than I like the word ‘diet,’ and I dislike them both for the same reason. They sound like an exception and a punishment rather than a lifestyle and a gift. No one is going to live on a diet or in an accountability relationship. They’ll do it for a little while and then they’ll stop. We know this. So let’s quit saying it. What is the alternative vocabulary to ‘accountability’? It’s friendship. Every instance of accountability that I’ve ever seen endure, did so because the two (or more) people were friends; not because they enjoyed going on a sin-hunt.”
Advice from G.K. Chesterton: Don’t Take Down the Fence until You Know Why It’s There, Amy Hall. It should go without saying that we would all be better off if we took a touch more advice from Chesterton. But this little excerpt appears particularly relevant in light of recent events. An excerpt of the excerpt: “There are reformers who assuming that all their fathers were fools; but if that be so, we can only say that folly appears to be a hereditary disease.”
When You Are the One Who Does Not Go, Scott Hildreth. It takes courage to leave for the mission field. But it takes a special kind of courage to send your own children. The strength of our future missions efforts will rely, in large part, on parents having the guts to live out their convictions when it’s their kids—and not them—hopping on the plane.
Five (Honest) Reasons We Don’t Read Our Bible, Erik Raymond. You know the common excuse: I’m just too busy. But busy-ness doesn’t usually keep us from other less-than-critical pursuits—dropping 20 minutes on Facebook or catching up on episodes of Seinfeld. So what’s really keeping us from picking up the Bible? Raymond shows what’s usually standing in the way, as well as providing an action item for each obstacle.
Lessons for the Marriage Debate from the Pro-Life Movement, Russell Moore. In light of last week’s Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, Al Mohler pithily said that “everything has changed and nothing has changed.” That’s well put, as it reflects both the landmark nature of the political decision and the unchanging nature of the gospel. But as Moore points out, this new decision, while historically novel, harkens back to another landmark case—Roe v. Wade. We’ve been on the “wrong” side of a Supreme Court decision before, and as the pro-life movement has shown us, there is a constructive way forward.
On The Lighter Side
Organizational Structures: A Survival Guide, The Doghouse Diaries. The humor of this diagram will vary depending on the number of years you’ve actually held a job. On the low end (let’s say 1-5 years), you won’t know enough to realize how true this is—hence, not relevant and, therefore, not funny. On the high end (let’s say 20+ years), you’ll know this far too well—hence, far too relevant and, therefore, not funny. But in that sweet spot of 5-20 years, you might actually chuckle.
Wisdom For Your Weekend is presented to you by Chris Pappalardo, with occasional guidance from J.D. Greear. This is our attempt to reflect Proverbs 9:9: “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.”
