Dear Customers,

One of the teachers at my daughter’s pre-school told the staff of an amusing interaction she had with one of the pupils. She was teaching the letter T to her class of 4-year-olds. After listing a number of items that began with T, she asked: “What does your mom drink with breakfast?

“Wine,” answered one of the boys.

“Surely, you mean tea,” suggested the teacher.

“No, no,” he insisted. “It’s wine.”  Mama exposed!

We laugh when youngsters innocently tear down the facades that adults wear. If we are honest, some of the laughter is relief that it was someone else exposed and not ourselves. Oh, how important it is that people think well of us and we keep our facades intact! The truth of this is borne out in the myriad of lies that we tell to cover for ourselves.

For Christians, though, the irony is that we try to cover up when we are exposed all the time. We may wear a mask in front of our peers, but before God we cannot cover up. It’s here that our hearts are most deceptive. We know in our heads that the Lord sees all, but live as if he doesn’t. A fat lady blocks the aisle when you are in a hurry and irritated. All sorts of stereotypical fat person thoughts go through your head that are thoroughly unkind. She may be unaware of what you are thinking, but the Lord knows what goes on behind closed mouths.

Covering up our wicked thoughts and actions is worse than drinking wine for breakfast and hoping that no-one notices. We are lying to God as well as ourselves. And it’s all so unnecessary – we have a Father in heaven who delights to have us approach him through Christ for forgiveness and a Holy Spirit in us willing to change us from the inside out. Oh, that we may see ourselves as God sees us and repent. The more we repent, the more we can change; the more we change, the less we have to wear a mask; the less we wear a mask, the less we fear exposure. Honesty is the best policy, with ourselves, with others and, most importantly, with God.

New from P&R:

• War Psalms of the Prince of Peace, Lessons from the Imprecatory psalms by James E Adams. 25th Anniversary Revised And Expanded Edition. Paperback; 176pp; R115.
• Beyond the 95 Theses, Martin Luther’s Life, Thought, and Lasting Legacy by Stephen J Nichols. Paperback; 304pp; R140.
• No Little Women, Equipping All Women in the Household of God by Aimee Byrd. Paperback; 288pp; R125.
• Ezra & nehemiah byDerek W H Thomas.  Hardcover; 464pp; R290. A new title in the Reformed Expository Commentary series. Now 22 titles in this series.
• The Battle of Seattle by Douglas Bond. Paperback; 312pp; R100.this is the 21st title that we have by Douglas Bond, 15 of which are historical novels. He writes really well and novels are an excellent way of conveying history and Christian character to our children.                                            ​

Crossway has revised some of their tracts. 20 titles available. R30 per 25-pack.

Back in stock:

• ESV NT paperbacks in gold, green and blue. R15 each.
• Letters to Pastor’s Wives byCatherine Stewart. R125
• Overcoming Sin and Temptation by John owen. R195
• When Children Love to learn by Elaine Cooper. R150
• Rose Book of Bible Charts. R380.
• Church History in Plain language by Bruce Shelley. R410.

Special: Every now and then one of our suppliers sells off a title at a bargain price. The latest one is The Athiest’s fatal Flaw, Exposing conflicting beliefs by Geisler & McCoy. Most critiques of atheism focus on refuting head-on the claims of atheists. Instead, this unique book faithfully represents what atheists say they believe and stands back to watch as the natural inconsistencies in that worldview inevitably rise to the surface.Paperback; 194pp; R50.