"Better to have a hot dog and be happy together than grumping across a nice steak and red wine." The dinner table is the great forge of the family. —Corinne Reagan Link below 👇

What does it mean to be a man? It means you have been given a masculine shaped assignment in this world. What is that masculine shape? What is masculinity/manliness? The Bible teaches that masculinity is God’s gift of strength to be used in obedient sacrifice for the good of others. The Text: “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong” (1 Cor. 16:13). Arguably, Paul intends for all of these characteristics to be understood as elements of masculinity and manhood, but certainly the last one: be strong. “The glory of young men is their strength, And the splendor of old men is their gray head” (Prov. 20:29). John echoes the same idea: “I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one” (1 Jn. 2:14). Interestingly, Paul’s charge to the Corinthians also echoes the language of the Philistines needing to be roused to battle with the Israelites: “Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight” (1 Sam. 4:9). While we wouldn’t ordinarily want to get our theology from Philistines, this underlines the fact that the masculine trait of strength is a creational reality, part of the natural order, and therefore even Philistines recognized it. This text also connects male strength with fighting and warfare. We see this in the biblical descriptions of armies of men when their strength has failed: “The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting, they have remained in their strongholds; their might has failed, they became like women…” (Jer. 51:30)... Read the rest ⬇️

Gabe Rench: The Church and the Moral Decline of America There is a lot of blame-shifting happening in our culture right now. Everyone has a villain, everyone has a scapegoat: the politicians, the media, the universities, the other party, the other tribe and so forth. What almost no one wants to say out loud is the one thing Scripture keeps insisting on: judgment begins in the house of God (1 Peter 4:17). So before we start blaming the Jews or the Democrats, we need to think clearly about the church’s responsibility for the spiritual state of America. Here is the big idea: the church’s abdication and unfaithfulness to God is the primary cause of America’s cultural and moral collapse. And if the church would repent, America would get right with the Lord again. By the time the constitution was ratified in 1789, America was 99% protestant. Catholics and all others made up the other 1%. How could a thoroughly Christian nation end up 250 years later so far away from its founding vision? Included in my operating thesis here is that wherever the church has played a central role in the birth of a nation, like what happened in America, the Christian church will be central to the spiritual success or failure of that nation. Let me put it this way. The church wasn’t a minority subculture pleading for a hearing; it was the water Americans swam in. It held the foothold, the moral centrality, the pulpit of the nation’s conscience. A church with that much cultural authority doesn’t get to disclaim responsibility for what happens after that. To whom much is given, much is required... Read the rest ⬇️