Aaron Armstrong's Blog, page 79
June 13, 2017
Links I like (6/13)
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4 Reasons to Enjoy Growing OlderMichael Kelley:
Gender and the Christian Standard Bible: Trevin Wax Answers My Q...Even as Christians, we feel the reality of time taking its toll. And yet as Christians, we have the unique ability not to see aging as bad news:
Gray hair is a glorious crown; it is found in the ways of righteousness (Prov. 16:31).
Why might that be? Why can the Christian actually stand apart from a culture growing younger and not only embrace getting older but actually enjoy it?
June 12, 2017
My short prayer for #SBC17
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Last night the Southern Baptist Convention Pastor’s Conference kicked off this year’s annual meeting here in Phoenix. Today is the first full day, and I am excited to see how this all goes. Mostly. I say “mostly” because it’s been an interesting year in the SBC. The fallout from the strangest presidential election cycle in modern history still casts a long shadow in particular. There are more issues, of course, but we don’t really need to read the laundry list.
So as we prepare for the first...
June 11, 2017
There’s no time to be bored about anything
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One of the first things I’m prone to correct with my kids is their use of these words: “I’m boooooooored.” By this, I don’t mean that I seek out ways to entertain them. Instead, I tend to challenge them. I mean, really? Bored? How on earth can any of us be truly bored when there is so much worth exploring? This is something G.K. Chesterton understood well. He didn’t life simply as a good thing, but as an adventure—the supreme adventure, even. He wrote,
Falling in love has been often regarded...
June 10, 2017
Weekend reading (6/10)
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I Hope I Die Before I Get OldI appreciated this piece a lot.
3 Indicators of Integrity Lapses in LeadersEric Geiger:
Integrity. It is a powerful word. It is used to describe people whose private lives match their public lives, whose actions match their words, who live honorably and humbly.
Rightfully so, we long for our leaders to be filled with integrity. For more than twenty years, people have used The Perceived Leader Integrity Scale as an instrument to measure how people view their lea...
June 9, 2017
Forgiven people forgive
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One of the hardest parables of Jesus’, one of the most frightening for me, is the parable of the unmerciful servant. In it, Jesus tells the tale of a servant who is forgiven an overwhelming debt—something like 200,000 years’ wages— but refuses to forgive a comparable pittance owed to him by another. Instead, he threw the debtor in jail. But when the master heard about it, he said, “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on you...
June 8, 2017
Links I like (6/08)
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A New Project: Learn to Navigate the Scary World of Social MediaChris is a sharp dude. Check out his new project and consider signing up for his newsletter.
You’re Not God, So Get Some Rest TodayCourtney Reissig:
It almost seems cruel to talk about rest in a book on the work of the home, because the work of the home is never finished. You don’t punch a time clock at five o’clock and then go home and do something else. You live in your work. Your children wake up at 3 a.m. with a stomach bu...
June 7, 2017
Five (more) classic books we should read
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Last week, I indulged myself a little and started thinking about old books I love to read. Specifically, a few classic books that were particularly helpful for me as I’ve grown in my faith. But these aren’t the only sorts of classics any of us should read. There are more—a lot more, in fact. Whether for pleasure, knowledge, or spiritual or personal enrichment, we should always be looking for opportunities to expose ourselves to great works of the past. In light of this, I want to share a few...
June 6, 2017
Links I like (6/06)
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Bring the Books!Jared Wilson:
So when people criticize all the gospel-centered this and grace-focused that coming out of the few Christian publishing houses committed to producing them, I get a little concerned. First, because gospel fatigue is a real thing, and it is spiritually dangerous. Secondly, because while I share a concern about The Gospel becoming just a fad, I think there are a lot worse fads (to be honest), and also, until the CBA charts are dominated by “gospely” books, I’m not...
June 5, 2017
What I read in May
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I am always consuming books, whether they’re physical, digital or audio. Every month, I like to share a breakdown of everything I read, including the books I abandoned. I do this because it gives me an opportunity to introduce you to books you might not have had an opportunity to read while practicing the art of writing concise book reviews.
In May 2017, I read 13 books to completion and started a couple of others that have yet to complete. Here’s what I read:
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a...June 4, 2017
The Bible is never boring
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There’s a quote about the Bible from Charles Spurgeon that I love. “Nobody ever outgrows Scripture,” he said. “The book widens and deepens with our years.”
I’ve seen these words proven true many times since I first began reading the Bible in 2005. Sometimes it’s a moment where something clicks, or you begin to connect the dots between passages and moments you never have before. Sometimes it’s how the Bible convicts or encourages you in an unexpected place. It doesn’t mean it’s always profoun...
