Reading is for our good. We all know that it is true, but many of us think of it the same way we do vegetables. We know we must have some, so we eat the bare minimum, but we certainly do not enjoy it. When someone recommends a book to us we know that it probably would be quite beneficial if we read it, but still it seems like too much effort. It's easier to just sit on the couch and watch some TV and it is easy to think it's not that big of a deal if we don't read. What we are forgetting is that there is much that we don't know and there is much that we still need to know. This is especially true when it comes to the things of God. None of us know enough about God! None of us know enough about prayer, about trusting Him, about how we are to live holy lives. The truth is we all have a long way to go, but we have not been left in the dark. God has revealed himself to us. He makes himself known through a book, the Good Book.

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Several years ago, a little orange book hit the shelves of Christian bookstores. I dare say nobody who read it came away neutral. You either loved it (in a sick, this-hurts-but-I-needed-it-kind-of-way) or you hated it (probably because it hurt and you were not willing to deal with its hard truths).

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Why has the church over the past decades in the west talked so much about evangelism but done so very little of it? Massive evangelism conferences have been held. Mountains of curricula have been produced. Yet, by and large, most churches I know anything about are not really doing evangelism at all, or very well. Why?

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Thursday is the 42nd anniversary of the tragedy of Roe v. Wade. Tens of millions of murdered babies later, we're forced as American believers to wonder how much longer this nation can survive this holocaust.

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"You can be so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good." is one of those clichés that I've heard repeatedly echoed throughout my life. Is it accurate? Can we be too heavenly minded? In Colossians chapter 3 the apostle Paul commands us to set our minds on things that are above and not on things that are on the earth. He instructs us to seek after heavenly things. We are told to intentionally refocus our attention on the things of God. We have to think about that which is heavenly. This is specifically set in contrast to the things that are earthly. Is this promoting a disregard of physical concerns like feeding the hungry, caring for the environment or mowing your lawn? I think not! I've been rereading a good book titled The Hope of Glory: 100 Daily Meditations on Colossians and today I came across this passage that strongly speaks to this issue.

I want to recommend Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem by Kevin DeYoung. My time was certainly well spent reading the 128 pages of this book. The Spirit used these words to quickly convict me on how I am not as careful with my time as I need to be. It's filled with practical changes to make us better stewards of the time God has given us. I especially enjoyed the last chapter on Mary and Martha from Luke 10. Below are some of my favorite quotes from the book. In this first quote the author confesses that he too has the problem of being too busy.

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A morning news show listed most popular New Year's Resolutions for 2015. Exercise, lose weight, and spend less time on digital devices made the list. Nothing inherently wrong with those. But these from the pen of Jonathan Edwards are better and richer:

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As a new year begins I am mindful that I learned many things in 2014... some of them were painful and some of them were joyful and some of them were embarrassing and some of them were helpful. I learned a bunch of stuff last year. I am glad for most of it and some of it I wish I never knew. But I guess everything in my life comes from a sovereign God and is for my good so I must have needed it all. So here are some of my lessons...

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