About

D. A. Carson‘s 2-volume “For the Love of God” was very influential in my life. In those volumes, Carson provided a commentary on one of four Bible passages in the M’Cheyne reading plan.  After using that resource for a number of years, I began to search commentaries and sermons to help me understand difficult passages that I encountered. I started this site in January of 2009, never expecting to gain a wide following. Most days, I post a quote from one of my favorite authors or speakers. I include contemporary preachers and authors, but especially love the old.

C.S. Lewis wrote in the introduction to “On the Incarnation,” a book written by

This mistaken preference for the modern books and this shyness of the old ones is nowhere more rampant than in theology. Wherever you find a little study circle of Christian laity you can be almost certain that they are studying not St. Luke or St. Paul or St. Augustine or Thomas Aquinas or Hooker or Butler, but M. Berdyaev or M. Maritain or M. Niebuhr or Miss Sayers or even myself.
Now this seems to me topsy-turvy. Naturally, since I myself am a writer, I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books. But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old. And I would give him this advice precisely because he is an amateur and therefore much less protected than the expert against the dangers of an exclusive contemporary diet. A new book is still on its trial and the amateur is not in a position to judge it. It has to be tested against the great body of Christian thought down the ages, and all its hidden implications (often unsuspected by the author himself) have to be brought to light.

Where they are true they will give us truths which we half knew already. Where they are false they will aggravate the error with which we are already dangerously ill. The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books. Not, of course, that there is any magic about the past. People were no cleverer then than they are now; they made as many mistakes as we. But not the same mistakes. They will not flatter us in the errors we are already committing; and their own errors, being now open and palpable, will not endanger us. Two heads are better than one, not because either is infallible, but because they are unlikely to go wrong in the same direction. To be sure, the books of the future would be just as good a corrective as the books of the past, but unfortunately we cannot get at them.

We are blessed to have SO many old resources available online.  Spurgeon, Calvin, Luther, Owen, J.C. Ryle, Matthew Henry….and so I find what some of these giants of the faith have written about the Bible passages we read each day, and post them for you to enjoy.  My prayer is that you will KNOW God more and more each day, by SEEING Him in His Word.

—Pam Larson lives in the Twin Cities and serves  as the Minister for Women at the North Campus of  Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN.  

19 thoughts on “About”

  1. I always wondered where all these Piper quotes came from! (I see you attend his church) He’s been a very formative spiritual leader in my personal walk.

    I agree it is staggering the amount of resources the believer has nowadays (love me some Monergism.com)…Peace and grace..

  2. Thank you so much for taking the time to invest into human souls for eternity. For a long time I could not find any other Reformed & like minded believers (not that they have to be reformed) living in a post Christian nation such as England. Women suffer spiritually here the most for whatever reason. Women in reformed churches are not encouraged enough to study theology! I put Bible study or theology, can’t remember now in a search and this blog came up. This is a God thing, I still can’t believe it. God bless, with much love in Christ, Angela.

  3. Angela,
    I am grateful that you found this blog and sincerely hope it can continue to be an encouragement to you! I am blessed to be a part of a church that encourages women to go deep and to invest time in Bible study. If there is any other way I can help you, please let me know. I usually link to helpful sites like Desiring God and Grace Gems.
    Blessings on you as you seek to know more of our great and mighty God!
    Pam

  8. Piper feels like home. My husband and I are covenant members of The Village Church in Denton, caught by Matt Chandler. We hear a lot of Piper quotes!

  10. Hello my mane is Brandon, i have read a few of your postings and they have impacted me especially the one about new clothes. God as spoken through you to me. keep letting God use you!

    Much Love & God Bless

    APoetsHeart51

  12. Pingback: Sisterhood Of the World Bloggers Award | Life Is A Beautiful Mess
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  15. It’s so refreshing to come upon your blog. I love the comment by C.S. Lewis to advise us to read the old…we are so blessed by giants in the faith I’m excited to get into more reading. I just started my own blog several months ago geared towards Bible Study and teaching. Would love for you to please check it out when you can 🙂 I’m currently doing a study from David Mathis Habits of Grace. Revealed8.com. God Bless!

  16. The Best Book to come to know God is the one given by God Himself, His infallible Word: the Bible. We are better to focus on that book first and then to use other books to help us or guide us further, but then able to see where they go wrong or got stuck in human doctrines instead of keeping to Biblical doctrines.

  18. Pingback: CS Lewis Called It “A Mistaken Preference” – Real Christian Women

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