• Destined for the Beauty of Diversity. Irwyn Ince writes “The sad truth is that many churches have not only been content with division and stratification across racial, ethnic, and economic lines, but have been complicit in fostering that division.”
• What Do We Owe a President? Denny Burk writes “All of this means that we must offer support whenever a President pursues policies that promote righteousness and that oppose evil. And we should oppose him whenever he fails at the same.”
• 9 Things You Should Know About President-Elect Joe Biden. Joe Carter shares what you should know about the man who it appears will be the 46th president of the United States.

• God Is Enough for You and the Emptiness You Feel. In this two-minute video, Nancy Guthrie talks about how so often we see emptiness in our lives as our biggest problem. But when God looks at the empty place, He sees it as His greatest opportunity. This is especially applicable to the difficult year many of us have experienced.

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:

• More interesting article links
• Favorite Quotes of the Week

• A Friend in the Fire. Scott Hubbard writes that the story of John Newson and William Cowper “stands as a testament to the power of God through persevering friendship. And in a day of rising depression and declining loyalties, it is a story many of us need to hear.”
• Faith is Impossible. Paul Tripp writes “Faith, properly understood, always leads you to cry out for God’s grace. It takes grace to have the faith to entrust yourself and everything you are and have to God and his grace. Faith is important because it is the only pathway to finding and receiving God’s greatest gift, his grace in the person of his Son, Jesus.”
• How to Avoid a Wasted Life. John Piper writes “God created us for this: to live our lives in a way that makes him look more like the greatness and the beauty and the infinite worth that he really is.”
• What to Do When God Seems Far Away. Matt Smethurst writes “What should we do on days—or even months or years—when the Lord seems distant? No, there isn’t a magic-bullet formula. But when God feels more like a concept than a reality, there are at least three ways to cultivate a sense of his nearness.”
• 4 Principles for the Exercise of Christian Liberty. Sinclair Ferguson writes “True Christian liberty, unlike the various “freedom” or “liberation” movements of the secular world, is not a matter of demanding the “rights” we have. Only when we recognize that we do not deserve our “rights” can we properly exercise them as privileges.”
• Every Woman Needs Another: A Call to Spiritual Motherhood. Tia Kim writes “Spiritual motherhood is, in a word, discipleship. It covers the spectrum from evangelism to nurturing others to spiritual maturity. It is a woman’s response to the Great Commission, teaching younger women to observe everything Christ commanded.”

• What is Progressive Christianity? In this video, Michael Kruger addresses this question. Check out my review of Dr. Kruger’s book The Ten Commandments of Progressive Christianity.
• What Is the Doctrine of Divine Election? Steven Lawson writes “Frankly, the only reason to believe in election is because it is found explicitly in God’s Word. No man and no committee of men originated this doctrine.”
• Singing, Suffering, and Scripture: How God Keeps Us Through Song. Watch this message from John Piper, delivered at the recent Sing! Global conference.
• Will Our Time and Efforts Invested in Hobbies Be Considered Worthless at the Judgment Seat of Christ? In responding to this question, Randy Alcorn writes “Seen properly, even hobbies and leisure activities can draw our hearts to worship Christ and be part of what’s done for Christ’s glory.”

• How Has the Study of the Holy Spirit Influenced Your Ministry? In this video, Sinclair Ferguson explains how his study of the Holy Spirit has affected his own life and ministry.
• Should Fear Play a Role in Our Evangelism? Is it unloving or sadistic to warn people of God’s wrath when we tell them about the gospel? From one of Ligonier’s Ask C.events, R.C. Sproul considers whether fear should play any role in our evangelism.
• How Were People Saved in the Old Testament? We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. But how were people reconciled to God before the coming of Christ? From one of the Ask Ligonier events, Steven Lawson explains how the saints of the Old Testament were saved.

• Dane Ortlund on The Habit Podcast. On this episode of The Habit Podcast, Jonathan Rogers talks with Dane Ortlund, author of Gentle and Lowly, and Senior Pastor of Naperville Presbyterian Church near Chicago.
• Scott Sauls on Steve Brown, Etc. These days, there’s a strong feeling of ‘Us against Them.’ But pastor and author Scott Sauls says that we have a secret weapon. Steve Brown and the gang talk to Scott about the problem of division, and about his new book, A Gentle Answer: Our ‘Secret Weapon’ in An Age of Us Against Them.
• A Review of the Film Hillbilly Elegy. Brett McCracken reviews Ron Howard’s film of J.D. Vance’s best-selling book Hillbilly Elegy (available on Netflix November 24), which he writes is a pretty big disappointment. He goes on to state “Had it spent less time on makeup to transform its actors into Vance lookalikes, and more time seeking to capture the bigger-picture complexities of the culture its characters inhabit, a film like Hillbilly could have blazed a new trail for Hollywood in bridging the cultural divide.”
• A Parable of God, Country, and Notre Dame: A Conversation with Historian Wilson D. Miscamble about Theodore Hesburgh. On this episode of the Thinking in Public podcast, Albert Mohler visits with Wilson D. Miscamble, a professor of history at the University of Notre Dame about his latest book American Priest: The Ambitious Life and Conflicted Legacy of Notre Dame’s Father Ted Hesburgh.
  

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• If anything becomes more fundamental than God to your happiness, meaning in life, and identity, then it is an idol. Tim Keller
• Everything that causes us concern, everything that makes us afraid, all the things we don’t understand are known by the Lord and are under his rule. Paul Tripp
• True Christian gratitude rejoices not in how one’s self is changed, but rejoices in the one who has changed you. Tim Keller
• Why do we wait until the funeral before we start gushing about someone’s best attributes? What if we all started “eulogizing” people while they are still with us? What if we started offering ten praises for every one concern? Imagine how such encouragement could change things. Scott Sauls
• Every sin in the history of the world will be punished by God. They will either be punished in Christ, or punished in hell. But no sin will go unpunished. Steven Lawson
• It’s true, Jesus was a friend of sinners, but because he was a true friend, he called those friends to repent and believe. Burk Parsons
• Every sin is an act of cosmic treason, violates the rightful rule of God, and insults his infinite glory and perfection. R.C. Sproul
• If you should ask me what are the ways of God, I would tell you the first is humility, the second is humility, and the third is humility. Augustine
• We need to remember that we are saved by grace when we fail. But we need to remember it much more when we succeed. Tim Keller