Bloodlines is a Good Book

Thanks to Lit!, I read Piper's newest book, Bloodlines, more carefully and deliberately than any book in recent memory. This is a good and helpful book about how the gospel severs the root of racism. I'll let Piper summarize for you what the book is about and hope that you will take this recommendation to get and read this book.

"The aim of this book has been to encourage you to pursue Christ-exalting, gospel-driven racial and ethnic diversity and harmony--especially in the family of God, the church of Jesus Christ. I have tried to argue from Scripture that the blood of Christ was shed for this. It is not first a social issue, but a blood issue. The bloodline of Christ is deeper than the bloodlines of race" (p. 227).

A Guide for Recovering Pharisees

That's a great endorsement for Bryan Chapell's Holiness by Grace. 60% off for one week.

The Deep Roots of Ethnic Diversity

A sample of how Piper shows that the gospel itself deals with the sin of racism:

"God's concern to include all the ethnic peoples of the world in his saving purposes--in his final, eternal family--is unbreakably linked with the two greatest realities in the universe: God's very being as one God and the way God has ordained to put sinners in the right with himself through justification in Christ. Ethnic diversity is not connected to God marginally. It's connected at the center--his infinite being and his single, glorious way of justifying sinners.

As this sinks into our minds and hearts, the effect it should have is to change the way we think and feel about the racial and ethnic diversity in the world and the church. We are constantly in danger of feeling (even when we are not thinking this way) that God is partial to our tribe--that he has a special liking for our ethnicity and cultural norms.

This danger is especially present and unseen among majority cultures and majority ethnic groups...This makes us very vulnerable to the assumption that God is our God in away that minimizes his being the God of other ethnic groups.

May the astonishing way that Paul speaks in Romans 3:29-30 of justification by faith alone awaken us from this deadly assumption. And may it fill us with a sense of amazement at God's passion in the pursuit of all the ethnic groups of the world. May we never forget that his pursuit is rooted in God's being one infinite God and in his justifying sinners in one glorious way through faith alone in the blood and righteousness of his Son, Jesus Christ."

Bloodlines, pp. 154-155.

The Power of Christ to Destroy Racism

Chapter 6 of Piper's new book, Bloodlines is a power-packed defense of how the gospel destroys the roots of racism. Piper gives 9 examples of how explosive the gospel can be in freeing us from the sins relating to racism. Here are my summaries of his 9 examples:

1. The gospel frees us from Satan's bondage.

2. The gospel frees us from our guilt.

3. The gospel shatters our pride.

4. The gospel gives us hope.

5. The gospel gives us a new identity.

6. The gospel frees us from the love of money (this section alone is worth the price of the book).

7. The gospel frees us to love.

8. The gospel removes our deepest fears.

9. The gospel gives us passion and zeal for good works.

You'll have to get the book to see how Piper fleshes these examples out. Excellent stuff.

A Christian Guide to Loving Books

Tony Reinke's Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books is a very good book on a far too neglected subject. Let's be honest. Not many of us have thought deeply about the importance of reading good books. And, not many of us have a strategy for a lifetime of reading good books. With so many books available, which books should we buy and read, and which books should we avoid? Reinke is here to help.

Lit! is divided into 2 sections: (1) A Theology of Books and Reading and (2) Some Practical Advice on Book Reading.

The first section is helpful because it lays a foundation for how to view books and why we should spend precious time reading books. Reinke makes clear that we should read all books in light of the one authoritative book (the Bible). He rehearses the gospel and makes sure we are shaped by a Biblical worldview.

The second section was most helpful and challenging to me. Some of my favorite chapters include: Six Priorities That Decide What Books I Read (and Don't Read), 20 Tips and Tricks for Reading Nonfiction Books, Six Ways to Find (and Protect) the Time You Need to Read Books, How Internet Habits Cripple Book Reading, and The Fine Art of Defacing Books with Pencils, Pens, and Highlighters.

A few of the practical issues that Lit! addresses:

-Which books to avoid.

-The benefits of reading "non-Christian" books.

-The benefits of reading fiction.

-The drawbacks of e-reading devices.

-Why and how to mark up a book with permanent ink.

-Reading in groups.

-Raising kids who love to read.

If you are serious about making the most of your reading, you should read this book. Or, if you have a long list of excuses for why you don't read, you should read this book.

You can get Lit! for 40% off at WTS books.

Christ + Nothing = Everything

You can never be richer than the man who has Christ and nothing else. Because the man who has Christ has everything He needs and more.

12 Love Songs: Every Little Kiss

Jeanna, Happy Anniversary. Here is the video I made for our 10 year anniversary that captures some of this breathtaking journey we find ourselves on.

12 Love Songs: If You Could See What I See

Jeanna, you were created by God as the perfect one for me. I pray my love could be worthy of the One who gave His life in love for us.