Worthwhile: August 23, 2019
Labor Day is closer now than Memorial Day so we are into the fall. Next weekend the Nebraska Cornhuskers begin their football season and my Saturdays will be busy!
There was a lot of action this week in the sharing of choice material, including what I share today, so hopefully you were able to engage in the meaningful things and pass over the drivel!
Let's get rolling with the glory of Christ. Given the rash of recent "departures" from Christianity, Erik Raymond has a short piece on the consistent indifference to the glory of Christ. That Jesus is ignored in the statements on leaving the church.
He holds out a mark for us to remember and rally around - who Jesus is and how we have faith in him. He also quotes John Owen to spur us on.
No man shall ever behold the glory of Christ by sight in heaven who does not, in some measure, behold it by faith in this world. . . . On Christ’s glory, I would fix all my thoughts and desires, and the more I see of the glory of Christ, the more the painted beauties of this world will wither in my eyes and I will be more and more crucified to this world.
Next a downer. You don't comprehend as well what you read on a screen versus paper.
This from an article from Karen Swallow Prior at ChristianityToday: "In an article aptly titled “Your Paper Brain and Your Kindle Brain Aren’t the Same Thing,” PRI reports that the habit of superficial comprehension developed in digital reading transfers to all reading such that “the more you read on screens, the more your mind shifts towards ‘non-linear’ reading—a practice that involves things like skimming a screen or having your eyes dart around a web page.” In reporting on another study published in 2017, Inside Higher Ed notes that “readers may not comprehend complex or lengthy material as well when they view it digitally as when they read it on paper.”'
While this has implications for those of us trying to convert to digital (my wife fears a future of hoarding books - I think it would be a dream!) The real concern is in Bible reading. Personally I have noticed that digital Bible reading loses something in the engagement arena and Prior asks the right questions to get us thinking about paper over pixels.
"In a Word-centered faith, the ability to read well is central. As a “People of the Book,” Christians have a particular calling to preserve and promote the gift of deep reading from physical Bibles. Pastors can model, lead, and teach the way."
Read the article here and then open you paper Bible!
J-Pipes also has some principles on productivity that are worthwhile. Ten invitations to think through and apply. Usually productivity advice comes in the form of action steps (wake up before dawn, drink bulletproof coffee, have a planner, take cold showers) put Piper has perspective in the right place.
I know that his previous calls to have a life goal has been a help to me in framing what I take on and what I attempt to avoid.
Give it a read or listen and be encourage as you produce.
Lastly as you enjoy this weekend... go to church. And find one that will welcome you this way. At Reservoir we have used the Ortlund inspired and refined "Welcome of the Church" during our call to worship and we mean it.
This video of that welcome has been making the twitter rounds and it is more than a good reminder, let's all paint our church doors red!
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