For your attention

1. Both evangelism and motherhood – Being a young mother does not prevent a woman from evangelizing others, writes Melissa Kruger, a mother herself, in this post at The Gospel Coalition blog. The women’s ministry coordinator at Uptown Church in Charlotte, N.C., shares 10 lessons she has learned about evangelism and motherhood. “Just as a fisherman knows there are better times of day to catch fish, some seasons of life are more fertile soil for evangelism. Motherhood is one of those times,” she writes.

2. What preaching the gospel to yourself means – Tim Challies provides an extended quote from Jerry Bridges’ book, The Discipline of Grace, to explain what it means to preach the gospel to yourself. In this excerpt, Bridges says, “We must be careful that we do not rely on the so-called unconditional love of God without realizing that His love can only flow to us as a result of Christ’s atoning death.”

3. Righteous anger vs. sinful anger -- Paul Tautges, pastor of Immanuel Bible Church in Sheboygan, Wis., offers some insight on the distinction between righteous and sinful anger by pointing to three biblical criteria for righteous anger listed by author Robert Jones. (HT: Tim Challies)

4. Fearing suffering more than ever – “Never in human history has suffering been more readily relieved than today. And yet, paradoxically, we have never been more afraid of suffering,” bioethics specialist Wesley Smith writes for First Things. This is an important article. I don’t know that Smith is a Christian, but he is a valuable pro-life commentator on cutting-edge issues. Smith also says, “Once avoiding suffering becomes the primary purpose of society, it too easily mutates into license for eliminating the sufferer. More, the meaning of ‘preventing suffering’ itself becomes elastic. Thus, we increasingly hear advocacy for ending the lives of cognitively devastated patients, not because they are in pain, but to relieve the anguish of their families.”

5. Law and grace in a church – Writing about a difficult case of discipline in his church, Tullian Tchividjian explains why Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is a two-word community (law and gospel) and not a one-word community (law or gospel). He says, “A one word community simply doesn’t possess the biblical wisdom or theological resources to know how to deal with sinners in an honest, loving, and appropriate way.” (HT: Catherine Parks)