Recommended Reading
Before the Snow Returns. Andrea Sanborn shares a seasonal reflection that leads nicely into Easter. “This is the tug-of-war between the new life and the old, the cold bite of disappointment wrestling with the hope of better. Of more. Of failure and forgiveness, of discouragement and hope, of worry and contentment.”
Evangelism Is Not a Thing You Do. This article by Tripp Almon explains how evangelism and discipleship relate to one another. “Evangelism and discipleship are not two different missions. They are one unified way of life, applied to people at different points along the same path. Non-Christians need the gospel to meet Jesus. Christians need the gospel to become more like him.”
A Lifeline in the Heartache of Divorce. “Divorce doesn’t just shake your life—it often shakes your faith. Maybe you’re struggling to pray. Maybe some days are okay, and on others, you don’t know where God is. Maybe you don’t see the point of following God anymore at all. You trusted him, you believed in his goodness, and yet here you are, sifting through the ruins of a life you thought was secure.” Vaneetha Risner offers compassion, realism, and biblical comfort in This Was Never the Plan: Walking with God through the Heartache of Divorce. Get 30% off with code CHALLIES.
Survivors Among Discarded Brothers and Sisters. Because it is a new month, you should have a new allotment of free articles from WORLD. It would be worth using one on this article. “The Boozer Twins were born in 2007, but the technology that enabled their parents to select them 20 years ago has only become more advanced and mainstream. A host of venture-capital backed fertility startups are promising to help couples have their ‘best baby.’ But really, they’re just practicing a new kind of eugenics: one in which children are ranked and selected (or discarded) based on their assigned genetic score.”
Gaslighting and Biblical Counseling. Casey McCall brings clarity to an oft-misused word. “Have you ever been ‘gaslit’? Have you ever ‘gaslit’ someone else? Do you even know what this term means? I heard it used countless times before I eventually got curious. Once I figured out its meaning, I realized that I hardly ever hear it used correctly.”
Why I’m a Disabled Person, Not a Person with a Disability. James Abernathy: “Was this reflection really me? I hoped to God it wasn’t: skinny legs whittled down to skin and bone, a protruding belly lacking muscle and form, bleak arms that barely worked, uncontrollable fingers that curled up in spasms, and a head disproportionately large compared to my frail, withering body. Surely this broken body I saw through tears of shame wasn’t me.”
What’s So Spiritual about Spiritual Gifts? Michael Jensen explains what’s so spiritual about spiritual gifts. “My observation is that we have the same lazy habit in talking about spiritual gifts in the Christian life as we do in talking about gifts in general. That is: we appeal to something spooky to explain where they come from, and we yearn for them as a marker to our identity. What’s more, the idea of a non-deliberate, almost spontaneous experience simply sounds more authentic than something we have rationally considered.”
