Testing for Pride

Joe Thorn:

Some of you may wonder if you are a proud person. Some of you already “know” that you aren’t proud. But there is a way to test yourself and see what you really are.

The simplest test is also the quickest. Find the nearest mirror and stand before it. If you can see your reflection, you are a testing positive for pride. I won’t get into the science behind that test, just trust me on that one.

Beyond that, let me encourage you to ask yourself some basic questions.

Do Not Muzzle the Ox: Does Paul Quote Moses Out of Context?

Justin Taylor:

“You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain” (Deut. 25:4).

This command, which appears only once in the Old Testament, would garner little attention except for the fact that the apostle Paul cites it not once but twice (1 Cor. 9:9; 1 Tim. 5:18), making apostolic application to his right to be supported financially as a minister of the gospel. And he does so in such a way that it makes it sound like he is bypassing what the command was originally about.

 The White Space of Life

Barnabas Piper:

In the visual arts, white space is an asset. It draws the eye to the desired features of a work. Without it a work can quickly become busy, cluttered, a confusing cacophony of images.

In his book, A Praying Life , Paul Miller writes of how so often in life we focus on what it missing. We worry, we fret, and we overlook what is there because we are captivated by what’s not. We think of those things we don’t have as “missing” and can’t imagine a happy life without them.

A Six-Letter Word

Lauren Chandler:

We’ve all heard of four-letter words. You know, the ones we swear we never use (no pun intended) – aloud, at least; or, only when the occasion calls for it – like when we stub our toe, or when we miss a car wreck by milliseconds, or when we’re surprised by our husbands who jump out of a closet at us when we think we’re home alone, scaring the kitten we’re carrying in our bare arms that then proceeds to claw it’s way on top of our heads leaving a trail of scratches and scrapes that rivals the result of a rumble with a barbed-wire fence. Not that anything like that has ever happened to me – I’ve just heard of it happening to someone, somewhere. I dunno.