Good stuff

Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds has a lot of good stuff [he always does].

1. A link to the new blog at 9 Marks, blog.9marks.org.
2. A link to a response to Dawkins by Francis Beckwith at First Things titled "The Irrationality of Richard Dawkins."
3. A recommendation from Ed Welch that we read Job 38-42 every day for a month:

   If you read these chapters every day for a month you will find that they are a treatment for almost anything. Do you fear people? Are you suffering? Are you anxious? Depressed? Struggling with anger? Hard-hearted? listen to these questions from the mouth of God.
   
   

   • "Have you ever given orders to the morning?" (38:12)
   • "Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
     
   • Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?" (38:17-18)
   • "Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, 'Here we are?'" (38:35)

   
   The pace of God's questions is relentless. They leave you speechless. But they are graciously delivered to a righteous man who prizes the fear of the Lord above all else.

4. A quotation from Anthony N.S. Lane about the difference between justification and sanctification:
   

   The Reformation doctrine makes a deliberate and systematic distinction between justification on the one hand and sanctification or regeneration on the other hand.
   
   

   • Justification refers to my status; sanctification to my state.
   • Justification is about God's attitude to me changing; sanctification is about God changing me.
   • Justification is about how God looks on me; sanctification is about what he does in me.
   • Justification is about Christ dying for my sins on the cross; sanctification is about Christ at work in me by the Holy Spirit changing my life.

   
   The Reformers were careful to distinguish these two--but not to separate them. One cannot have one without the other--as with the heat and light of the sun. The sun gives out heat and light. These two cannot be separated. When the sun shines there is both heat and light; yet they are distinct and not to be confused. We are not warmed by the sun's light nor illumined by its heat. To use a modern illustration, justification and sanctification are like the two legs of a pair of trousers, not like two socks which may well become separated and, in the author's experience, too often do become separated.

5. And more...

Between Two Worlds