BCL Online Picks — August 13, 2025

Photo Credit: Karyn Easton / Snapwire.com

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With endless reading options online, finding the best can be a challenge. Here are Beautiful Christian Life’s picks for this week:

1. One Afternoon

Author Kara Dedert reflects upon the different paths her children will be taking in the coming years, with a daughter heading toward college and a son staying home due to special needs. This powerful Substack post about the close-knit bond between a sister and brother reminds us to pause and focus on what truly matters in life.

2. You Are Not The Judge Of Your Sanctification: God’s Word Is

Do you ever wonder whether the Holy Spirit is actually at work in your life? Be encouraged by this Heidelblog post by R. Scott Clark, Professor of Church History and Historical Theology at Westminster Seminary California.

3. Jesus Seeks the Scandalized on the Kiss Cam

We have all sinned, but most of us haven’t had our sin exposed so publicly as happened in the recent “Kiss Cam” scandal. In this Deep Hearted post, pastor and author Clay Werner shares why grief and tears, not mocking and laughter, are the only appropriate response. (Many thanks to the Heidelblog for bringing this article to our attention.)

4. Why My 23-Year-Old Son Is Getting Married—and Why That’s a Beautiful Thing

Is 23 years old too young to get married? Pastor and author Virgil Walker shares on Substack why swimming upstream in today’s culture when deciding what age to marry is biblical.

5. Why the Pain?

“In 586 BC Nebuchadnezzar dragged Judah’s best to pagan Babylon, leaving Jerusalem in rubble and God’s temple in ashes. What was the point of this desolation?” In his Substack post on Daniel 7:15-28, pastor and author Campbell Markham gives three reasons why God delivers his people to suffer at the hands of godless powers.

6. 15 Ways to Discern False Teaching

Even people who have been devoted believers for many years can be taken in by false teaching. Over at Clearly Reformed, pastor and author Kevin DeYoung shares fifteen unbiblical teachings that can lead Christians astray.

7. The Better Offering

Why did God have regard for Abel and his offering but not for Cain and his offering in Genesis 4? In his Feeding on Christ post, pastor and author Nick Batzig gives us insight regarding the nature of each sacrifice, what this passage teaches us about Christ’s redemptive work, and the proper state of our hearts when coming before the presence of God.