The Friday Five (7.4.25)
A Few Things for My Friends
Hey!
Every week, I share five things to encourage and equip in daily life with God.
This week, I’ve been off the grid with my wife to celebrate her upcoming birthday. For a week, I spent time under an umbrella, taking two books (one fiction, one nonfiction), my Bible, and a journal to plan some upcoming projects. That’s the resource pool for this week (save one). Enjoy.
Happy Independence Day!
MK
⬇️ Have you read my book on spiritual disciplines? ⬇️
Read the forward and introduction | Grab a copy here | Here’s a Discussion Guide
1. If you feel unseen, forgotten, or overlooked by the Lord
Hear this from J.I. Packer in Knowing God:
“Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord and my judgment is passed away from my God?” (Is 40:27 RV).
This question rebukes wrong thoughts about ourselves. God has not abandoned us any more than he abandoned Job. He never abandons anyone on whom he has set his love; nor does Christ, the good shepherd, ever lose track of his sheep. It is as false as it is irreverent to accuse God of forgetting, or overlooking, or losing interest in, the state and needs of his own people. If you have been resigning yourself to the thought that God has left you high and dry, seek grace to be ashamed of yourself. Such unbelieving pessimism deeply dishonors our great God and Savior.1
Last week, I listened to Ray Ortlund read this quote in his book, Good News at Rock Bottom: Finding God When the Pain Goes Deep and Hope Seems Lost. At first glance, you could take it as a stinging rebuke from Packer — but I heard it as an invitation to clear thinking and right hope. If you need it, wake up, sleeper. You are loved, and you are not forgotten.
2. Quiet time that takes over your life
This week, I read Dave Ripper’s Experiencing Scripture as a Disciple of Jesus: Reading the Bible like Dallas Willard.
The book was excellent. It reminded me of so many things from Dallas that have shaped my thinking, and I am grateful to Dave for that. It left me with a lot to think about and repent of. Here are four pieces Willard (via Ripper) for you:
Wise biblical study must involve "giving much time on a regular basis to meditation on those parts of the Bible that are most meaningful for our spiritual life, together with constant reading of the Bible as a whole." Throughout Willard's teaching ministry, he provides examples of Scripture passages most applicable to our spiritual lives, including but not limited to Psalm 23; the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5-7); the Lord's Prayer; all four Gospels; Romans 8; 1 Corinthians 13; Colossians 3; and 2 Peter 1.
Beyond deep reading of these particular texts and the entire Bible as a whole, Willard repeatedly emphasizes the importance of memorizing Scripture. In Life Without Lack, Willard contends that memorizing Scripture "is even more important than a daily quiet time, for as we fill our minds with great passages and have them readily available for our meditation, 'quiet time' takes over the entirety of our lives.' Memorization is a crucial way we can, as Psalm 16:8 states, keep the Lord always before us.2
If you want to memorize scripture and need helps, here are two apps:
Fighter Verses (free from Desiring God)
Bible Memory
3. Read them repeatedly.
In Seeking God, Hudson recalls an evening he shared with Dallas, in which he asked a list of prepared questions. The most surprising exchange went like this:
Trevor: Could you provide me with a list of the formative books I should read?
Dallas: I suggest you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Trevor: Okay, I have got that down. Are there any other books you recommend that I read?
Dallas: (more emphatically) My suggestion is that you take the next twenty years or so to read and meditate on these four Gospels. Read them repeatedly. Immerse yourself in the words and deeds of Jesus, and commit to memory as much as you are able.3
Take a minute and think about how quickly we move on.
What if we purposefully didn’t?
4. Letting it float away
I recall John Ortberg sharing a story about Dallas leaving a conference he’d taught at. After walking out the back door, he opened his hands and quietly sang, "All to Jesus, I surrender, all to Him I freely give.” It was Dallas’s way of leaving the results of his work in God’s hands.
Ripper provided another angle that felt freeing from the temptation that can come once you walk off a stage, to worry or try to manage what happens next with what you’ve done:
Rather than seeing Dallas concerned with how he did, or what people thought, John said being with Dallas was like watching a little child let go of a helium balloon outside. Dallas released his teaching into the loving arms of his Savior, almost without a care in the world. How could Dallas do this? He learned to let go of the outcome of his ministry and relinquish it to God.
In Renovation of the Heart, Dallas emphasizes the importance of "abandoning outcomes.' To do this, we acknowledge and accept that we do not have the capacity or wherewithal to make a situation come out right, regardless of what that situation is. This acceptance of our finitude and limits is a crucial part of what it means to be humble. According to Willard, Humility is the great secret of rest of soul because it does not presume to secure outcomes.4
5. Willard’s Prayer for You
That you would have a rich life of joy and power, abundant in supernatural results, with a constant, clear vision of a never-ending life in God’s World before you, and of the everlasting significance of your work day by day. A radiant life and a radiant death.5
Thanks for Reading
If someone forwarded this to you, I write two kinds of emails: one on select Tuesdays about life with God and the other every Friday, where I share things I’ve found during the week. If you want to subscribe but can’t afford it, email me, and I’ll take care of it—no questions asked.
I pastor, teach, and lead at The Village Church, serving as an Elder and the Executive Director of Discipleship. In my spare time (ha!), I’m working on a Ph.D. in Church History, studying Jonathan Edwards and character formation. Also, I’ve written A Short Guide to Spiritual Disciplines: How to Become a Healthy Christian.
Thank you for reading and supporting my work as I seek to shepherd with compassion and wisdom, equipping people to embody God's truth for all of life.
Talk soon,
Mason
J.I. Packer, Knowing God, “Chapter 8: The Majesty of God”.
Ripper, Experiencing Scripture, 80.
Ripper, Experiencing Scripture, 161.
Ripper, Experiencing Scripture, 16.