Wisdom For Your Weekend: your weekly installment of things we’ve been reading (and watching) around the web.
Articles of the Week
“The View” Shows Us 3 Ways to Approach Religion, Trevin Wax. We can only assume that Wax had his ear to the ground on this one because he’s an avid watcher of ABC’s (Emmy Award winning) talk show. But Wax is right: this little interaction serves as a good snapshot of the various ways we can approach religion. And all of it prompted by an interestingly evangelistic atheist billboard.
I Read the Bible and Feel Nothing. What Should I Do? John Piper. We’ve all been there: we open up our Bible, dutifully read what should be enriching, encouraging, and exciting…and are left cold. So what do we do when Bible reading becomes stale? Piper has wise words for those moments when the Greatest Story Ever Told becomes just another story.
Three Ways to Encourage People in a World of Negativity, Chris Martin. The world often seems like a negative place. Conflict garners headlines, so the news seems like one extended battle. Christmas is a time to be with family, but if we’re honest, that’s not always the most lovey-dovey place, either. And if you spend any significant time on social media, it’s easy to get sucked into a vortex of negativity (some might call it the captivity of negativity…not us…but some). So what’s a body to do? How can we cultivate a counter-cultural ethos of encouragement in the midst of negativity? Martin has three helpful tips.
There Is No Difference Between Male and Female Brains, Jessica Hamzelou. The interpretive applications of this study could go any number of directions. But this was simply too interesting not to share. We’re all used to hearing (and making) blanket statements about the way men’s and women’s minds work—usually by placing them on opposite ends of a spectrum. And while men and women are, in fact, quite distinct, the differences don’t arise from the gray stuff between our ears.
7 Ways to Love God by Getting More Sleep, Joe Carter. Chances are you already know that you should be getting more sleep than you are. You might even acknowledge that bad sleep habits are bad stewardship of what God has given you. So let’s move beyond the obvious and ask: what can we do about it? In certain seasons of life (say, with little tikes in the house), running on sleep-empty is unavoidable. But for all of us, there are some changes we can make to give our bodies the sleep they need. Carter’s list will have some new ones for you.
On The Lighter Side
Monkey Sees a Magic Trick. Watch. Laugh. Repeat.
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.”
