News From the Frontlines: August 1st, 2026
- Joshua Budimlic
- 20 hours ago
- 3 min read
Welcome, my friends, to another edition of News From the Frontlines. I hope that you are blessed and encouraged in your faith as you explore this week’s recommendations. And speaking of encouragement, allow me to leave you with these parting words from Jude 1:24-25—“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
News From the Frontlines:
Recommended Reading, Listening, & Watching
Several weeks ago, I shared a podcast by Dr. Greg Gifford on regret and how to deal with it Biblically. Gifford continues his series on emotions in this episode, now dealing with the issue—and sin—of anxiety. Indeed, to quote Kevin Carson, “Anxiety is a mild form of atheism.”
Last week I said I was working on an article about The Odyssey and the Second Coming of Christ—it would appear Greg Morse over at Desiring God beat me to it! “It is brutal to watch men die on screen. But if we get squeamish watching the pretend vengeance of one incensed man, what shall it be like to face the righteous wrath of Almighty God in real life? And if we sense something of justice in man’s imperfect vengeance, what excuse shall we make when perfect judgment descends to render to the wicked their due?”
“The reason you are able to go on vacation is the same reason you’re able to fill your lungs with air right now - God provided. From that perspective, one of the most baffling things about vacations is how we can so easily slip into a functional atheism as we experience this wonderful gift from the Father of lights. By that, I mean God becomes an afterthought. You become consumed with the events and experiences, the people and places, the sights and the sounds…and then you come to the end of it all and sheepishly (pun intended) realize that the most you’ve thought about God in the past week and a half is a barely conscious, ‘Thank you for the fun, Lord,’ as you laid your head upon your pillow and passed out from exhaustion each night.”
Jacob Crouch has a blog you should definitely check out. In this article, he reflects on the role parents play in the conversion of their children, while also considering false and so-called ‘uneventful conversions.’ “The ‘uneventful testimony’ is really a misnomer. That early conversion is just as impressive and miraculous. It puts God’s saving grace on display just as much as in the greatest sinner. It’s not a ‘less-than’ testimony. Jesus Christ is so merciful that He really saves children from the pit just as much as He saves adults.”
Speaking of genuine conversion—and the assurance of it—Matthew Crocker walks readers through 1 John and outlines three important tests the apostle gives to encourage struggling believers.
In this segment of Ask Pastor John, John Piper considers this immensely important question. “So, confessing our sin is the agreement with God that we have sin and it must be fought and killed. If we don’t confess this truth, we’re living, John says, in an illusion. We’re lying, we’re deceived, we’re calling God a deceiver, and we’re not saved. If we believe we have no sin and that it doesn’t need to be killed, we’re living in an illusion, not in salvation. So, confession of sin is not the basis of our forgiveness; it is one of the traits that show we are truly in Christ, where all our sins are covered by his blood.”
As of this week, I officially completed T.H. White’s massive five-volume classic of the King Arthur story, The Once and Future King. I have an ever-growing number of other books on my reading list, but I do hope to get to Guite’s at some point soon, as I have heard very good things about it (particularly in how he echoes two of my favorite authors, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis).
Photo by Cole Patrick, Unsplash
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