John Piper pleas for…

Both:

Daily prayerful meditation seeking personal application of God’s word to your own heart and life.

And:

Regular study in a class or with a book where the (living or dead) teacher has seen more than you have and can give you insight in 30 minutes that might otherwise take you ten years to see.

Read more at A Plea for Heart Devotions and Head Study :: Desiring God.

Nearly four centuries ago the Puritan William Perkins drew a useful distinction. He suggested that there is a working difference between error and heresy. He wrote that error of itself is no ground for breaking fellowship, that any doctrinal discrepancy between two Christians means that one or both are in error. The Bible does not on that account command them to separate from each other. Heresy is another matter; heresy is error, but error that strikes at the very roots of the faith, and heresy is always grounds for breaking fellowship.

Read more at SharperIron » Ecclesiastical Separation.

I picked up a Pandigital Digital Photo Frame at Bed Bath & Beyond this weekend. It’s pretty nice – an 8″ frame that has 1GB of internal memory, plus plays MP3s and AVIs.

The second best part of it was the cost – it will only be $34 after rebate. They’re $80, plus if you have one of those 20% off coupons that BB&B sends to everyone on the planet, your in-store cost is only $64. Then you get a $30 mail-in rebate form. Sweet!

The best part, though?

It sits on my desk at work and every time I look at it I am reminded how much I love my wife and kids, all day long. You can’t put a price tag on that. I recommend something like this for every husband and father out there.

SharperIron concludes a two-article series on the very popular Twilight series of novels, by Stephenie Meyer:

It is no coincidence that the Twilight series has spawned T-shirts proclaiming that “Forbidden Fruit Tastes Best.”

Read Part 1 and Part 2 of the review.

I thought this was particularly funny. It’s comedian Louis CK on Conan O’Brian, talking about what little awe we have for the amazing world we live in…

(Note: one bleeped word on the video.)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jETv3NURwLc

“A believer is one who identifies with all that God affirms and condemns in Christ’s crucifixion.”

In other words, in Christ’s cross I agree with God’s judgment of me and I agree with God’s justification of me. Both have a radical impact on how we take and give criticism.

Read more at Between Two Worlds: The Cross and Criticism.

From Mark Dever:

So, given that long warning, what things can I and can’t I live with as a pastor? Let me throw out a bunch of different examples that are relevant to my particular situation: organs, female elders, universalism, altar calls, humor, multi-site campuses, drums, the KJV, stained glass, racism, infant baptism, no formal membership, sermons limited to 10 minutes, large and high pulpits, TV studio-like acoustics. My goal in what follows is not to give you a sacrosanct playbook, but to illustrate how I go about thinking through practical matters. Let’s take each one in order.

Read more at What I CAN and CANNOT Live With as a Pastor – 9Marks. (HT:Tim Challies)

Dr. Dever’s inclusion of infant baptism has stirred up a bit of controversy. Justin Taylor links to some of the discussion, and to Mark Dever’s response. Rick Phillips also weighs in.

John Piper offers parents practical advice from Matthew 21:28-30.

We stand in a precarious position. Any biblical stand we take will be shouted down as arrogant (and not just by the world, but by many in the church). Detractors will not engage meaningfully, but rather quench discussion under a mask of modesty. At the same time we must constantly ask God to convict us of any pride on our part, for true pride is insidious and always ready to creep in. So what do we do? Do we allow ourselves to be silenced by tactics carefully contrived to checkmate us? Do we allow ourselves to be held back by a fear of inappropriate motivations on our part?

Pride is a problem, so is inappropriate uncertainty. We need to stand with conviction, not allowing misapplied labels of arrogance to quench our courage. We need to address uncertainty, not thwarted by the misuse of the label humility.

Read more at Arrogance and Humility: Whose Definition? « Biblical Preaching.

As with his earlier volume, Venema leans towards an “optimistic amillennialism.” His evaluation of the four millennial views is fair, I believe, and he goes to great lengths to describe their beliefs accurately. When he considers the resurrection, the final judgment, eternal punishment and other such issues, he comes down squarely on the side of biblical orthodoxy, speaking out harshly against annihilationism and universalism, and affirming the reality of judgment. He looks constantly to Scripture to defend all that he teaches.

Read more at Tim Challies’ review.