Wisdom For Your Weekend: your weekly installment of things we’ve been reading (and watching) around the web.
Video of the Week
The Old Testament in Five Minutes, RiverGlen Christian Church. This is an impressive exercise in engaging brevity—and the artwork is both simple and beautiful. (Also, if you’re following along in our The Whole Story series, be sure to check out all of the resources our Sam James Institute is producing to help explain some of the OT books we’re reading—Genesis, Ecclesiastes, Job, and more.)
Articles of the Week
Seven Ways to Fight Distraction in Prayer, Gavin Ortlund. If you don’t struggle to keep your focus while praying, you’ve definitely got a leg up on me (Chris). I suspect that most Christians, however well-intentioned, have frequent moments when praying drifts from “O God, hear my plea” to “What time is my dentist appointment again?” Ortlund offers 7 helpful ways to keep your prayer life focused on actually praying.
Four Ways to Battle Bitterness, Jen Wilkin. C. S. Lewis once said that we all love the idea forgiveness … until we have someone we actually need to forgive. In moments when we’ve been wronged, our natural bent is not toward forgiveness, but toward bitterness. Most of us know that fostering bitterness won’t do us any good, but it can be tough to actually move past it. Wilkin offers four hard-fought lessons for those of us trying to prevent bitterness from taking root.
What do we do with the, “God has spoken to me,” phenomenon? Michael Kruger. We’ve all been there. You’re having an otherwise normal conversation with your friend, when they drop the bomb on you: “God told me to…” Few statements shut down debate more quickly than this divine trump card. Pastor J.D. has helpfully showed us how to practically handle such mischief in his Jesus, Continued. Here Kruger takes a slightly different approach, pointing out that—historically speaking—it’s always been a bad idea to lead with, “God has spoken to me.”
Three Reasons Why You Should Ignore Most Relationship Advice, Jared Wilson. Unsolicited advice is tricky. In your better moods, you can recognize that your friend/family member is only trying to help, that they really do care, that they want the best for you. In your worser moods (yes, worser is a word), you want to politely tell them to sew their lips shut. It’s a good idea to continue practicing patience and kindness with your wannabe life-coaches. But Wilson gives you three good reasons to take their advice with a grain of salt.
On The Lighter Side
Existential Riddles, Ethan Kuperberg. I know, I know. Every now and then the humor of “On The Lighter Side” is much more, well, “on the darker side.” But this is phenomenal. If you like riddles, and if you find existentialism humorous (don’t we all?), this is a goldmine. (My favorite is the barber riddle.)
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.”
