Linked Together: With God

On the Other Side
What awaits the believer after death? Kevin DeYoung writes:

In trumpeting the good news of cosmic renewal let us not lose sight of the hope that anchors the believer in hard times and is the reality awaiting us on the other side of suffering and death: we really do go to heaven when we die.

Read Away from the Body and at Home with the Lord.

In a Beetle’s Hole
Here’s a post on the same subject as my post yesterday at Out of the Ordinary, and starting with the same child’s question, too, explaining why it’s important for us to understand that God is present in a dung beetle’s hole (Aaron Denlinger).

Linked Together: Jesus as YHWH

These two posts explain why the tetragrammaton (this week’s theological term) belongs to Jesus, too.

The Picture
A little visual persuasion: A chart comparing Old Testament passages about God with New Testament passages about Jesus (Fred Sanders). 

The Thousand Words
Mike Riccardi makes the biblical case that

Jesus—the Son of Mary, from the no-name city of Nazareth, who was mocked, and despised, and spat on, and abused—this Jesus who suffered the shameful fate of death on a cross—is Yahweh Himself.

Read Jesus is Yahweh in the Flesh.

Linked Together: Our Children

Three posts recommended for your weekend reading.

Teaching Them
Seven reasons to teach your children church history:

1. Because they must know that Christianity is a historical faith. 
2. Because we want them to avoid chronological snobbery. 
3. Because they must know that the Bible is worth dying for.
4. Because they must know that theology is important.
5. Because they must see that we are part of Christ’s church through the ages. 
6. Because we want them to know that even great men are deeply flawed.
7. Because it encourages them to obey the ninth commandment.

Read the whole post by Jeff Robinson for explanations of each of these points, plus a list with three suggested resources. (I originally saved this link so I could put two of these resources on my wish list for my church library.)

Preparing Them
for their future. Sometimes less is more:

Every parent hopes to unleash their child’s boundless potential. They buy heaps of toys and books whilst signing their child up for classes to maximize learning, enrichment and experiences. Yet before long, parents are providing so much stimulation that it interferes with their child’s development, thwarts their child’s concentration, blocks their creativity, drains their resilience and even rattles their sense of security.

Read The surprising power of doing less for our children to achieve more.

Praying for Them
after they grow up and leave home (Kim Shay).