Round-Up
A smattering of links, videos, and music for your spirituality.
Since so many of you liked my last round-up of goodies, here’s another.
- 4 Key Points on Spiritual Formation
These points are things that I assume in the background of the spiritual formation conversation but haven’t always had the chance (or frankly, just forgot) to say outright. Each of these has been brought up in one way or another over the past couple of weeks, and so it seemed like a helpful thing to do would be to put them in one place so that my assumptions are on the table and they can be easily referenced.
Benjamin Gladd - Why We Won’t Spend Eternity in Heaven
One pervasive misconception is that we’ll spend eternity in heaven, gathered around God’s throne with the angels. Of course, this is a present reality—deceased saints are indeed worshiping God in heaven. Scripture is clear on this point (e.g., 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; Rev. 6:9–10). But the church is often ignorant about what will transpire in the future after Christ’s second coming.
Tim Challies - The Practice of Accepting Disappointment
One of the most important habits you can develop is the habit of accepting that life is full of disappointments. One of the best ways to grow in contentment is to accept the inevitability of discontentment. One of the ways you can be most joyful in life is to be realistic about life, to know that the people in it will so often fail to meet your expectations. Having admitted all of this, you can embrace it as the way life is and even the way God means for it to be.
Glenna Marshall - Why Am I So Spiritually Dry?
Sometimes spiritual dry spells come with a diagnosis and sometimes they don’t, but the only way through them is through them.
Gavin Ortlund on How He Reads More Books
A New Song
Here’s a brand new song from my buddy, Matt Boswell. I first heard him do this at Midwestern Seminary, and I immediately loved it. An instant classic from the Boz.
Lyrics:
Vs 1 Morning by morning with every dawn, My soul with a new song awakes Even in evening my praise goes on; Forever my God is the same
Chorus
How faithful the Father above How wondrous the works of the Son How sweet is the Spirit given to us How great is the greatness of God Vs 2 When my heart gazes on Calvary, At all of Your mercies arrayed Oh, that my Savior would die for me I sing out with infinite thanks Vs 3 Oh what a comfort in every trial; His presence is all that I need Power that brought resurrection life, That power is living in me How Great Is the Greatness of God — Words and Music by Matt Boswell, Bryan Fowler, and Matt Papa