He gives a list from DA Carson’s book, Love in Hard Places, of people who can be hard to love.  I’ve copied and pasted it here for you, but the original post is worth a read.

1. an obstreperous deacon or warden or bishop;
2. a truly revolting relative;
3. an employee or employer who specializes in insensitivity, rudeness, and general arrogance;
4. a business competitor more unscrupulous, not to say more profitable, than you are;
5. the teenager whose boorishness is exceeded only by his or her unkemptness;
6. the elderly duffers who persist in making the same querulous demands whenever you are in a hurry;
7. the teachers who are so intoxicated by their own learning that they forget they are first of all called to teach students, not a subject;
8. the students so impressed by their own ability or (if they come from certain cultures) so terrified by the shame of a low grade that they whine and wheedle for an “A” they have not earned;
9. people with whom you have differed on some point of principle who take all differences in a deeply personal way and who nurture bitterness for decades, stroking their own self-righteousness and offended egos as they go;
10. insecure little people who resent and try to tear down those who are even marginally more competent than they;
11. the many who lust for power and call it principle;
12. the arrogant who are convinced of their own brilliance and of the stupidity of everyone else.

Man Shall Not Live By Facebook Alone

From John Piper’s blog.

-Max Lucado, from his soon-to-be released book Outlive Your Life

-Jonathan Edwards

This is a sad statement on Christian men.  We have bought the world’s bag of goods and don’t even have the discernment to see that the goods aren’t very good.

As to your opponent, I wish that before you set pen to paper against him, and during the whole time you are preparing your answer, you may commend him by earnest prayer to the Lord’s teaching and blessing. This practice will have a direct tendency to conciliate your heart to love and pity him, and such a disposition will have a good influence on every page you write.

If you account him a believer, though greatly mistaken in the subject of debate between you, the words of David to Joab concerning Absalom are very applicable: “Deal gently with him for my sake.” The Lord loves him and bears with him; therefore you must not despise him or treat him harshly. The Lord bears with you likewise, and expects that you should show tenderness to others from a sense of the much forgiveness you need yourself. In a little while you will meet in heaven. He will then be dearer to you than the nearest friend you have upon earth is to you now. Anticipate that period in your thoughts. And though you may find it necessary to oppose his errors, view him personally as a kindred soul, with whom you are to be happy in Christ forever.

But if you look upon him as an unconverted person, in a state of enmity against God and his grace (a supposition which, without good evidence, you should be very unwilling to admit), he is a more proper object of your compassion than of your anger. Alas! “He knows not what he does.” But if God, in his sovereign pleasure, had so appointed, you might have been as he is now, and he, instead of you, might have been set for the defense of the gospel. If you attend to this, you will not reproach or hate him, because the Lord has been pleased to open your eyes, not his.

Of all people who engage in controversy, we who are called Calvinists are most expressly bound by our own principles to the exercise of gentleness and moderation.”

John Newton, writing to a young minister, The Works of John Newton, I:268-270.

I grabbed this from The Gospel Coalition and Truth Matters.  Great insight!

Michael Horton offers a critical examination of Osteen’s book, Becoming A Better You, that is worth reading.

-Sigmund Freud

Now this doesn’t necessarily invalidate any system that Freud came up with.  However, when you take into consideration that the system he invented, psychoanalysis, has as one of its primary goals to treat psychological and emotional illness, you have to ask yourself if a person who thought that most people are trash really had other people’s best interests at heart as he developed his system.

Advance Auto Parts
Aldi
Banana Republic
Barnes & Noble
CVS Pharmacy
Dick’s Sporting Goods
Gap Stores
Harris Teeter Stores
Home Shopping Network
Kroger
Limited Brands
Nordstrom
Office Depot
Old Navy
Radio Shack
Staples
SUPERVALU
Victoria’s Secret

For a list of companies that do support Christmas, click here.

See also:

Fox News Article

Another Article

1) The impulse to avoid painful growth by disappearing safely into the crowd in corporate worship is very strong.

2) The tendency toward passivity in listening to a sermon is part of our human weakness.

3) Listeners in a big group can more easily evade redemptive crises. If tears well up in your eyes in a small group, wise friends will gently find out why. But in a large gathering, you can just walk away from it.

4) Listeners in a large group tend to neglect efforts of personal application. The sermon may touch a nerve of conviction, but without someone to press in, it can easily be avoided.

5) Opportunity for questions leading to growth is missing. Sermons are not dialogues. Nor should they be. But asking questions is a key to understanding and growth. Small groups are great occasions for this.

6) Accountability for follow-through on good resolves is missing. But if someone knows what you intended to do, the resolve is stronger.

7) Prayer support for a specific need or conviction or resolve goes wanting. O how many blessings we do not have because we are not surrounded by a band of friends who pray for us.

Taken from John Piper’s sermon The Love of Human Praise as the Root of Unbelief

On this day in 1517, the great reformer, Martin Luther, nailed his 95 theses on the door of the church at Wittenburg.  It created a firestorm.  Eventually, Luther was called to the Diet of Worms in 1520 and asked to recant.  His famous proclamation still rings true 489 years later:

“Unless I am convinced by proofs from Scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.”

#5 You don’t have to–Parents are the ultimate authority (after God of course) of your children–not the state!  So you actually DO have a choice where to send your children.

#4 America’s schools are among the worse in the industrialized world–no comment needed

#3 America’s schools are morally repugnant–Not only do children have to hear about sex from their peers, now they hear about it straight from the teacher’s mouth!  Some states even have books in their curriculum that show acceptance of homosexuality along with other sinful behaviors.

#2 Government education is anti-Christian–Baucham notes, “Our education is either based on biblical truth, or some other ‘alleged truth.’  There is no such thing as neutrality in this regard.  All education is religious in nature.”

#1 The Bible commands Christ-centered education–If point #2 above is true, and point #1 here is true, then we must in obedience give our children a Christian education.  This is not possible within the public schools.

Romans 16:20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

The American Family Association has called off its boycott of Pepsi.  See more info here.

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Pepsi has taken a number of actions lately to support and promote the gay lifestyle.  It is sad that Pepsi is refusing to remain neutral in the culture war and instead is aggressively endorsing this lifestyle.

Consider these items:

The text of the speech is available at John Piper’s Blog.

When Machen was asked how to say his name, he told The Literary Digest “The first syllable is pronounced like May, the name of the month. In the second syllable the ch is as in chin, with e as in pen: may’chen. In Gresham, the h is silent: gres’am.”

You have to watch all five minutes to get the full effect.

All I can say is, “Wow!”

“Those who are really called of God to the sacred ministry are such as have been brought to a deep acquaintance with themselves, feel their own ignorance, and know their own weakness. They know also the awful responsibility that attaches to the work; and nothing but the authority of God can induce such to undertake it. They whom God never called run, because of worldly honour and emolument: the others hear the call with fear and trembling, and can go only in the strength of Jehovah.

How ready is the man to go, Whom God hath never sent! How timorous, diffident, and slow, God’s chosen instrument!”

–Adam Clarke, Commentary on Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 6

–Sinclair Ferguson

Christian Martyrs in India

As well as this article: India Violence Against Christians Continues

It is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit–immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

–CS Lewis The Weight of Glory

This definitely puts things in perspective!