Selfless love

Marriage: 6 Gospel Commitments Every Couple Needs To Make by Paul David Tripp: This updated edition of Tripp’s 2012 title What Did You Expect? includes bonus chapters addressing a gospel perspective on sex, responses to frequently asked marriage questions, and a section intended to facilitate dialogue between couples. Tripp challenges married and soon-to-be-wed couples to make commitments that include offering confession and forgiveness, building trust, dealing with differences, and protecting their marriage. In outlining each commitment, the book relates gospel truths to everyday, real-life marriage realities. It contains relatable anecdotes from Tripp’s marriage and from couples he’s counseled. One theme: You must fix a marriage vertically before you ever fix it horizontally. Lasting change requires willingness to accept what God says about us, our spouses, our world, and God Himself.

What the Bible Says About Divorce and Remarriage by Wayne Grudem: Grudem succinctly summarizes Biblical teaching on divorce and remarriage, addressing common questions and gray areas such as abuse and neglect. He begins by outlining God’s original intent for marriage, exegeting Old and New Testament passages relevant to divorce and remarriage. Grudem affirms a traditional view that divorce and remarriage are permitted in cases of sexual immorality and desertion. He proposes that Paul’s usage of “in such cases” in 1 Corinthians 7:15 suggests the apostle “considered divorce a legitimate possibility not only in the cases of desertion by an unbeliever but also in situations that similarly brought extensive and severe damage to the marriage.” Examples include abuse; incorrigible drug, alcohol, and pornography addiction; and credible threats of serious physical harm or murder.

Prayers of a Parent for Young Children by Kathleen Nielson: This prayer book and three others in the series help parents pray for their children and the unique challenges at each stage of life—from young children to teens to young adults to adulthood. Parents are uniquely equipped to petition the Lord on behalf of their kids as they grow in years. Nielson, a mother and grandmother, provides Biblically sound prayers applicable for both sons and daughters. With each prayer, she includes brief insights, related Bible verses, and a focus on Jesus and His work of salvation on our behalf. Each book ends with a prayer titled, “For My Parent Heart.” It reads, “In all my asking, let me rest in your great love and faithfulness. … What grace, that you should give me life and let me nurture another, given by you.”

The End of Me by Liz Wann: Wann challenges mothers to believe that in losing ourselves, Jesus meets us. “God uses motherhood as a light in our lives to see the reality about ourselves,” including our sin of self-sufficiency. Mothers often hear, “You are enough,” but Wann emphasizes instead our need for an all-sufficient Savior. She connects lessons from Jesus’ ministry, including His obedience to the point of death on the cross, to a mother’s daily “deaths” in raising children for the joy set before us. Each chapter ends with a practical application, a prayer, and journaling space. This short book offers rich gospel truths for women in the throes of motherhood.