The Top Five to Live By: The Year End Edition

Linking you to the top 5 Christian blog posts of the week—posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living. 

Today I offer the top 5 posts from around the Christian web in 2011.

Here are 5 blog posts that I think were most important and/or helpful for readers.

5. Relational Ministry

Ed Welch of CCEF has an outstanding post reminding us that soulless ministry is not biblical ministry at all (compare 1 Thessalonians 2:8). Gain from his wisdom in Are We Skilled Counseling Mechanics? 

4. Does God Have a Good Heart?

John Piper’s Desiring God ministry blog provides a powerful series of quotes from Martin Luther on relating to God as our gracious, loving heavenly Father. Be encouraged with Abba Father Versus a Wrathful Roar. 

3. Evidence for the Resurrection

Justin Taylor posts two videos of Dr. William Lane Craig’s presentation Is There Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus? 

2. Wright on Hawking

This has to be a first for me with Five to Live By: linking you to the Washington Post. But there’s a grand reason. N. T. Wright responds to Stephen Hawking’s recent comments about heaven. Read it and learn What Stephen Hawking Doesn’t Understand about Heaven. 

1. What’s at Stake?

As usual, Al Mohler cuts to the chase in his response to Rob Bell’s book on hell. Read his take in Universalism as a Lure. 

Join the Conversation

Which post from 2011 impacted you the most? Why? What blog posts have you enjoyed this year that you want to share with others?

Five to Live By

Linking you to the top 5 Christian blog posts of the week—posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living.

Want to Be a Good Friend?

Kevin DeYoung is in the midst of a blog mini-series on friendship. In part 3, The Gift of Friendship, Kevin explores how not to be a good friend.

Want to Rest in God?

Jen Smidt at The Resurgence reminds us that God Is Faithful.

Want to Vanquish Bitterness?

Paul Tautges helps us to deal with bitterness in A Bitter Root. A Rotten Fruit. 

Want to Make a Difference?

Ed Welch from CCEF shares a very personal post about his quest to be extra ordinary, and his biblical decision to be “ordinary.” Read his reflections in Ordinary Is the New Cool.

Want to Counsel Biblically?

Brad Hambrick explores the words and terms we use in counseling one another. Read his throughs in Can or Should We Identify Idols? 

Join the Conversation

Which post impacted you the most? Why? What blog posts have you enjoyed this week that you want to share with others?

Five to Live By 

Linking you to the top 5 Christian blog posts of the week—posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living.

Mother’s Day: Be Very Sensitive

Justin Taylor links you to several important posts about Mother’s Day—and our need to be very sensitive. In wanting to honor Moms, our churches often are insensitive to those women for whom Mother’s Day may be a very difficult day. Read with insight and act with compassion: Infertility and Mother’s Day.

A Dirty Word List?

Ed Welch is one of my favorite biblical counseling bloggers. I appreciate his candor, as in this post about our dirty word list in biblical counseling. Read all about it in Biblical Counseling Dirty Words.

Incompetent to Counsel

You know that it’s rare for me to list one of my own posts. Well, technically I’m not doing that. Instead I’m listing a post from the Biblical Counseling Coalition’s new blog site, Grace & Truth. I just happen to be one of the first week’s blogger. Read my post on finding strength in weakness (and all the others): Competent in Christ.

A Prayer by Jay Adams

Jay Adams, the founder of Nouthetic Counseling, posted a moving, candid prayer that is a great reminder to all of us, regardless of our age. Read and learn from Jay’s wisdom in Age.

Daddy Takes the Bee Sting for Us

My good friend, Pastor Steve DeWitt, shares a stirring illustration of the bee sting in The Sting Removed.

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Which post impacted you the most? Why? What blog posts have you enjoyed this week that you want to share with others?

Five to Live By: Relationships Matter 

Linking you to the top 5 Christian blog posts of the week—posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living. Today’s 5 converge around the theme of relationships.

Relational Biblical Counseling

Ed Welch of CCEF has an outstanding post reminding us that soulless ministry is not biblical ministry at all (compare 1 Thessalonians 2:8). Gain from his wisdom in Are We Skilled Counseling Mechanics?

Who We Are in and to Christ

Pastor Tullian Tchividjian shows that our grace relationship to Christ frees us from the obsessive pressure to perform. Learn about Our New and Exalted Identity.

The Humble Sr. Pastor

Rick Howerton provides an excellent reminder that the phrase “humble Sr. Pastor” shouldn’t be an oxymoron, and that “relational mega-church pastor” shouldn’t be a contradiction in terms. Read Rick’s insights in Sr. Pastors and Wise Relational Decisions.

What Seminary Leaves Out

H. B. London shares Ten Things Seminary Never Taught Me. Let’s pray that seminaries of today are doing a much better job in these ten areas.

“I Don’t Know”

Elliot Grudem at Acts 29 reminds us of our need for humility in Why Arrogance Has No Place in Reformed Theology.

Join the Conversation

Which post impacted you the most? Why? What blog posts have you enjoyed this week that you want to share with others?

Five to Live By

Linking you to the top 5 Christian blog posts of the week—posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living.

Living with Regrets

Why have over 1,500 people passed this post on to friends? Find out when you read Ed Welch (CCEF) post If Only: Living with Regrets.

Holy Joy

Dr. Laura Hendrickson teaches us that we can bear the truth about ourselves because it’s not the end of the story. Ponder he life-changing biblical reflections in When You’ve Really Messed Up.

Wrestling with Convictions

By now, most have heard about the young Christian wrestler from Iowa who choose to forfeit his match at the State meet rather than wrestler a girl—based upon conviction. As a high school wrestling coach, I wanted to blog on this. I did not, but many did. The best post was Al Mohler’s A Clash of Worldviews.

Biblical Counseling Homework

Pastor Mark Kelly provides four worksheets he developed while working through Jonah with a teen struggling with obedience toward authority. They’re a great example of how to use the Bible to engage people in spiritual conversations and scriptural explorations about their lives. Read them and even download them at Counseling from Jonah.

On Display?

Mary Kassian helps us to understand the purpose of womanhood in The Amazing Display.

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 Which post impacted you the most? Why? What blog posts have you enjoyed this week that you want to share with others?

The Best of the Best Around the Christian Net: This Week’s Top 5

Linking you to the top 5 Christian blog posts of the week—posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living.

Do We Need Another Biblical Counseling Organization?

The Biblical Counseling Coalition launched this week. Read all about them at the BCC launch website.

The Experts on Bias…Are Biased!

Surprise, surprise. Social psychologists who study bias are themselves biased. So shares Al Mohler in Academic Bias Against Conservatives.

If Only…

How do we handle life’s “what ifs?” Ed Welch and CCEF explores this important question in Living with Regrets.

God Still Speaks through a Fish

The folks at The Resurgence teach us about God’s amazing grace in Jonah as the Parochial Prophet.

A Prayer of Augustine

Trevin Wax shares Augustine’s prayer Let Me Fly and Take Refuge in You.

Join the Conversation

Which post impacted you the most? Why? What blog posts have you enjoyed this week that you want to share with others?