From Lydia Brownback's new book, A Woman’s Wisdom: How the Book of Proverbs Speaks to Everything (Crossway, 2012), pages 170–171:

The way we use our time is always going to be shaped by how we view our time. Do we see it as a gift or as a right?

Those who view time as a gift can echo the psalmist who said, “Teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Ps. 90:12). They realize that their time is actually a God-given asset that they are to invest for God’s glory. They are cognizant of the fact that an hour gone by can never be relived.

Conversely, those who view time as a right tend to hoard their hours for selfish pleasure and often resent having to invest energy …

Continue Reading →

Charles Spurgeon, The Sword and Trowel (September, 1873):

The devil never reckons a man to be lost so long as he has a good mother alive. O woman, great is thy power!

(Design submitted by Jennifer Knight. Follow DG on Pinterest here.)

Praying "in Jesus' name" is more than attaching the phrase to the end of each prayer. So what types of prayers are prayed "in Jesus' name"? In this three-minute clip from his latest sermon, Pastor John says it has more to do with our prayer’s content than in its closing. He provides us with four prayer-filters.

In John 14:12 Jesus tells his disciples that believers will do "greater works" than Jesus himself did on earth. Whoa, wait, what?!

So how are believers' works "greater" than Jesus’ works on earth? John Piper explains in this three-minute clip from his most recent sermon:

John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life (Crossway, 2003), page 162:

Missions exists because worship doesn’t.

(Design submitted by Jonathan Simcoe. Follow DG on Pinterest here.)

________

What follows are 20 quotes that caught my attention as I read Matt Chandler's new book, The Explicit Gospel (Crossway, 2012):

“More often than not, we want him to have fairy wings and spread fairy dust and shine like a precious little star, dispensing nothing but good times on everyone, like some kind of hybrid of Tinker Bell and Aladdin’s Genie. But the God of the Bible, this God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, is a pillar of fire and a column of smoke.” (29)

“We carry an insidious prosperity gospel around in our dark, little, entitled hearts.” (31)

“Because a God who is ultimately most focused on his own glory will be about the business of restoring us, who are all broken images of h…

Continue Reading →

John Newton, the slave-trade ship captain turned pastor and hymn-writer, wasn't exactly a blogger. Many of his writings, however, fit in the category of we today would call blogging. He wrote mostly letters — small, topically oriented and experience-based pieces — and he became increasingly aware those letters would be published for a wider audience. When you pick up a copy of his published letters and begin reading, they remind today’s reader of the blog style many Christians find edifying.

Here are 15 lessons from John Newton on letter-writing that will serve blog writers (all quotes taken from The Works of John Newton, 6-volumes).

1. Bloggers should write to learn, to meditate, and to…

Continue Reading →

At a recent morning staff devotional at the DG offices, John Piper shared a biographical sketch of the brilliant scientist, Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727). The talk was inspired by his recent reading of this 2005 biography by Gale Christianson.

The 37-minute talk was recorded, and although the audio quality is poorer than we prefer, the content is worth sharing.

"Isaac Newton was one of the most brilliant men who walked this planet, and, as far as I can tell, he ‘missed it’ profoundly,” said Piper. “The price of his ruthless focus on scientific observation was very high. He missed the true nature of Jesus. And he was in ceaseless war with other scientists, arguing endlessly about who disco…

Continue Reading →

John Piper, Future Grace (Multnomah, 1995), page 9:

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

(Design submitted by Jennifer Knight. Follow DG on Pinterest here.)

You may have noticed a series of social media buttons on the side of each blog post and resource on the Desiring God website. This post is a little attempt to explain why those buttons, and the statistics they reflect, matter to us.

But I’ll begin with two reasons that do not explain why those buttons exist.

Like to Share

First, the social media numbers are not our attempt to win a popularity contest. We are not blog street performers hoping for a click-and-a-retweet dime. The same is true with Facebook. Of course, we do want you to "Like" our content, which sounds especially self-serving. “Like” is not our preferred term.

Partly this is due to the evolution of the technology we use.…

Continue Reading →