CHRISTIAN LIFE:

• A Prayer of Lament in Response to the Terror Attack in Paris. Here is the prayer of the week from our friend Scotty Smith, who first captivated me with his excellent 2001 book Objects of His Affection: Coming Alive to the Compelling Love of God. Don’t forget to sign up to receive his wonderful daily prayers in your inbox.
• Patience is Not Optional for the Christian. Albert Mohler writes “Patience is not optional for the Christian. The apostle Paul repeatedly commanded Christians to demonstrate patience to each other. In fact, this is a critical test of Christian authenticity. True Christian character, the very evidence of regeneration, is seen in authentic patience.”
• Ten Diagnostic Questions for Your Marriage. Kevin DeYoung offers ten questions that can help diagnose the health of our marital lives.
• Is There a Difference Between Happiness and Joy? Randy Alcorn writes “An ungrounded, dangerous separation of joy from happiness has infiltrated the Christian community.”
• Christmas is Not for Cranks. Kevin DeYoung writes “Let’s look at the next month and half as a season of opportunities instead of a season of obstacles.”
• Unsocial Media. Tony Reinke writes “Smartphones and social media will cure the epidemic of widespread loneliness. Or so we thought. We would all be connected, all together, all the time, and none of us would ever feel alone. But the harsh truth is we could always be lonely, even lonely in a crowd, and now lonely in a digital crowd.”
• Don’t Protect Yourself From Adoption. Russell Moore writes “Caring for orphans means, in a very real sense, joining them in their distress. I cannot tell you that won’t be risky. It could up-end your plans for yourself and your family altogether. It could wreck your life-plan. These children need to be reared, to be taught, to be loved, to be hugged, to be heard. That may take far more from you than you ever expected to give. This sort of love is not easy. But for those who are called to it—it’s worth it.”
• Resentment: The Danger That Destroys Our Hope. Trevin Wax writes that “The greatest challenge facing Christians in North America today is not external. It is not an action by the Supreme Court, or the threat of losing tax exemption, or the political and financial pressures to compromise basic Christian ethics. It’s an internal challenge – the temptation to see yourself as part of a persecuted minority that finds its identity in being wronged.”
• Winsome Weirdos. John Piper writes “The apostle Peter is calling for a special breed. Not the kind of conservative who gives all his energy to embracing and defending his weirdo status. And not the kind of liberal who will embrace any compromise necessary to avoid being a weirdo. But rather a breed that is courageous enough to be joyfully weird, and compassionate enough to be “zealous for good deeds.””
• The 6 Assassins of a Man’s Contentment. Darrin Patrick writes “You have enemies as you try to live as a content man. Most of the time we think the enemies are from without—people around us and circumstances upon us. But the true enemies of contentment are within in us, which is where contentment is either fed or starved.”

IN THE NEWS:

• Christian Mingle Inspector. In this spoof video, Christian Mingle, the popular Christian dating website, employs standup comedian John Crist to approve or reject applicants to their website.

• Ligonier Ministries Welcomes Dr. Albert Mohler and Dr. Derek Thomas as Their Newest Teaching Fellows. Together, Drs. Mohler and Thomas bring more than sixty years of ministry experience in the local church and ministerial training.

THEOLOGY AND CHURCH LIFE:

• Evaluating Seventh-day Adventism. Just as Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith raised questions in 2012, Ben Carson’s affiliation as a Seventh-day Adventist is raising questions. Nathan Busenitz writes “The primary issues that separate Seventh-day Adventists from biblical Christianity are (1) their unorthodox view of Christ’s work of atonement; (2) their illegitimate elevation of Ellen G. White’s prophecies; and (3) their legalistic insistence that believers are bound to observe the Sabbath and Mosaic dietary laws.”
• Help Me Teach the Bible: Derek Thomas on Mark. Nancy Guthrie continues her “Help Me Teach the Bible” with newly named Ligonier Ministries Teaching Fellow Derek Thomas.
• Christ in the Old Testament Infographics. David Murray shares some infographics that Cameron Morgan produced for him in connection with his book Jesus on Every Page.
• God’s Grace is Mind-Blowing. Phillip Holmes writes “As our hatred for and awareness of our sin increases, we desperately need a biblical view of the grace of God. We need the Scriptures to paint a clear picture of who God is and how much he loves us in Christ Jesus. We need to see the God of the Scriptures who is so gracious it blows our minds — bringing us to tears and repentance.”
• Help For Hurting Churches Dealing With Apostasy. David Murray writes “What would you say to a church where two of its most promising young “Christians” had not only left the faith but had turned against it with mockery and hostility?”
• Tim Keller/Our Identity: The Christian Alternative to Late Modernity’s Story. Justin Taylor shares the video from Tim Keller’s November 11 address at Wheaton College.
• Theological Quizzes in PDF Format. Tim Challies has shared his theology quizzes in a PDF format. Each quiz contains a question sheet followed by an answer key. You are free to copy, share, and print them.

• What an individual is in secret, on his knees before God, that he is and no more. Sinclair Ferguson
•  Where faith begins, anxiety ends; where anxiety begins, faith ends. George Müller
• Remember that when you are at your worst and lowest, even then underneath you are the everlasting arms. Charles Spurgeon
• Imagine a self-help book titled, “7 Steps to Losing Your Life for Another Person.” That’s the essence of HESED. You’re trapped by your love. Paul Miller
• You can contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary. Jonathan Edwards
• Everybody out there, despite their claims to the contrary, knows perfectly well that God exists. R.C. Sproul
• If you’ve experienced God’s forgiveness, others will experience your forgiveness. Burk Parsons
• He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find Him the rest of the day. John Bunyan
• Being in Christ, and united to Him, is the fundamental constitution of a Christian. Thomas Goodwin
• The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God. C.S. Lewis
• Our present is bearable because Christ’s future glory is guaranteed. Bryan Chapell
• What makes worship amazing is the object of our worship. Francis Chan
• Jesus didn’t come primarily to solve the economic, political, and social problems of the world. He came to forgive our sins. Tim Keller
• Faith does not eliminate questions. But faith knows where to take them. Elisabeth Elliot
• One can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving. Amy Carmichael
• Prosperity and poverty are not signs of God’s favor or disfavor; God’s promised mercy in the gospel is the only anchor in the storm. Michael Horton
• Christianity is not useful if it isn’t true. Francis Schaeffe
• The greatest dangers to the church will always come from within the church. Kevin DeYoung
• The resurrection tells us the worst thing is never the last thing. Frederick Buechner
• To give your life so others can be free sounds like a very Christ-like thing to me. Thank you veterans. Michael Card
• If God only exercised justice to a fallen race everyone would perish. But God chooses to grant mercy to some. R.C. Sproul
• No biblical writer has a view of eternal security that makes it superfluous to warn professing Christians they can make shipwreck of faith. John Piper
• The only reason we have peace with God is because God made peace with us through Jesus. Scotty Smith
• If you try to seize the day, the day will eventually break you. Seize the corner of his garment and don’t let go. He will reshape the day. Paul Miller
• Pride is the commencement of all sin. Augustine
• “How long have I been doing this? I don’t want to overdo it.” – First thoughts I have when I begin working out. Jim Gaffigan