We come to one another in marriage with these things in our backgrounds. And when the inevitable conflicts occur, our memories can sabotage us. They can prevent us from doing the normal, day-to-day work of repentance and forgiveness and extending the grace that is so crucial to making progress in our marriages. The reason is that woundedness makes us self-absorbed.
Time to give up on the Great Commission Resurgence, by @CLawlessJr
RICHMOND, Va. (BP) — If you read my column yesterday, you know that I have decided to give up on the Great Commission Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention. In fact, I challenged all Southern Baptists to give up on the idea, as none of us can produce the resurgence we seek.
The bottom line is this: we face a real, evil, spiritual enemy who does not want us to experience a Great Commission resurgence, and victory will come only when we realize that the battle is God’s, not ours. He alone is the divine warrior when His people face an uncrossable sea (Exodus 14:13-14), a domineering giant (1 Samuel 17:1), or an invading enemy force (2 Chronicles 20:1-23). It is in His strength, His might, and His armor that we ever experience victory (Ephesians 6:10-11); His Spirit can accomplish what our might and power cannot (Zechariah 4:6).
Giving up, though, does not mean that we do nothing. It means we passionately, corporately seek the only one who can bring about the resurgence. …
Read the rest of this important article at the Baptist Press.
Therefore, when facing any problem in marriage, the first thing you look for at the base of it is, in some measure, self-centeredness and an unwillingness to serve or minister to the other. […] Paul says that this ability to deny your own rights, to serve and put the good of the whole over your own, is not instinctive; indeed, it’s unnatural, but it is the very foundation of marriage.
Keller, Timothy (2011-11-01). The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God (p. 51). Penguin Group. Kindle Edition.
You must be willing to give something up before it can be truly yours. Fulfillment is on the far side of sustained unselfish service, not the near side. It is one of the universal principles of life… (emphasis mine)
Seek to serve one another rather than to be happy, and you will find a new and deeper happiness.
“Whoever wants to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25). He is saying, “If you seek happiness more than you seek me, you will have neither; if you seek to serve me more than serve happiness, you will have both.”
Keller, Timothy (2011-11-01). The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God (p.51). Penguin Group. Kindle Edition.
My favorite moment of the Giants-49ers game was the shot of Eli Manning in the final minute of the fourth quarter, score tied at 17. Manning, after spinning away from the initial rush, had somehow squeezed off a pass to Ahmad Bradshaw right around the time the 49ers’ Aldon Smith was knocking the quarterback into Sausalito. It was a nice, ballsy little play, the sort of move that made you realize that Eli has a lot more Archie to him than his brother ever did. Manning was left looking like something that had gotten snagged in the blades of your lawnmower. Helmet several degrees out of plumb, pads spilling out of his jersey, chin guard heading north toward his eyeballs, grass all over him. He was the Scarecrow after the flying monkeys had finished with him. He looked bad, and I’ll be damned if, in that Maynard G. Krebs way of his, he didn’t look a little badass, too.
(via kejadlen)
Source: Slate
@PostWarden is a relatively new app that makes managing multiple Tumblr sites, and Tumblr accounts, a breeze, with the added bonus of having a local backup. Because of this, it can be used offline and one can save drafts of their work before posting. It’s nice and simple, executed well, and gives the added comfort of having a local copy of all of this stuff. As someone who manages multiple Tumblr sites and accounts and never met a backup he was not thankful for, this is a welcome and needed addition to my hard drive.
Now available on the Mac App Store for $9.99
Source: minimalmac
The fatal habit of considering Christian morals as distinct from Christian doctrines insensibly gained strength. Thus the peculiar doctrines of Christianity went more and more out of sight, and as might naturally have been expected, the moral system itself also began to wither and decay, being robbed of that which should have supplied it with life and nutriment.
William Wilberforce, A Practical View of Christianity, ed. Kevin Charles Belmonte (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996), p. 198.
Quoted in John Piper, Counted Righteous in Christ (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2002), p. 25.
The deep happiness that marriage can bring, then, lies on the far side of sacrificial service in the power of the Spirit. That is, you only discover your own happiness after each of you has put the happiness of your spouse ahead of your own, in a sustained way, in response to what Jesus has done for you. Some will ask, “If I put the happiness of my spouse ahead of my own needs—then what do I get out of it?” The answer is—happiness. That is what you get, but a happiness through serving others instead of using them, a happiness that won’t be bad for you. It is the joy that comes from giving joy, from loving another person in a costly way.
When it came to meeting the demand of our busy bars with a line out the door, efficiency was incredibly important to maintain quality without rushing the baristas. Baratza set us up with enough Vario-W’s and hopper extenders to completely remove the step of pre-weighing coffee for every pour over we served. With a built in scale, the grinder served up an accurate dose of fresh ground coffee with the push of a button. This was immensely useful and allowed the baristas to focus more on engaging with customers and less with tedious necessities.
Source: coffeecommon
After his viral video hit almost 17 million views in 2 weeks, Jefferson Bethke follows up with a spoken-word poem on Sex, Marriage, & Fairytales.
