1) I Hate Porn
I hate porn for the fear it induces in the hearts of parents everywhere that their child could stumble upon a sight and get addicted.
But I love Jesus.
It is well and good for the preacher to base his sermon on the Bible, but he better get to something relevant pretty quickly, or we start mentally to check out.” That stunningly clear sentence reflects one of the most amazing, tragic, and lamentable characteristics of contemporary Christianity: an impatience with the Word of God.
Theology in story is a genre that comes and goes in Christian writing and one that, in the past, has been used for good and for ill. I am grateful to see Wax both attempting it and succeeding well at it. Clear Winter Nights is a book, a story, that will encourage the Christian and provide answers to the skeptic. I highly recommend it.
4) Gods Grace and My Filthy Rags
Money given to a stranger in need, a meal cooked for a friend with a new baby, a note of encouragement written to a good friend: rags. Even my time spent studying the Bible, praying, and tithing: still rags. Not one of those things—not one—can earn me the right to be the adopted daughter of the King. All of my actions earn me nothing, except for this: I can choose to believe by faith that Christ died on the cross and in power rose again, defeating sin and—in the ultimate and perfect demonstration of grace—offering me new life in Him. It’s a gift I can never, ever repay, but one I should earnestly desire to share with everyone I meet.
…Father…help me trade my petty frustrations, however valid I think they may be, for peace and gentleness toward those who frustrate me. Jesus, forgive me for my pettiness, and help me to live out even the small things in your name. Amen.
