John Beeson

August 10, 2023

Recommendations, Christian Living, Church, Consumerism, Family, Generosity, Parenting, Relationships, Suffering

This Week's Recommendations

John Beeson

August 10, 2023

Recommendations, Christian Living, Church, Consumerism, Family, Generosity, Parenting, Relationships, Suffering

The shriveling of the American soul: Trevin Wax comments on an alarming report“In 1998, 70 percent of respondents said patriotism was very important and 62 percent said the same about religion. Today, it’s only 38 percent and 39 percent. Having children? A drop from 59 percent to 30 percent. What about community involvement? From 62 percent to 27 percent.”
With the wild animals: Mitch Case ponders why Mark tells us that Jesus was with the wild animals in the wilderness. “Jesus is among the beasts and the Ancient Serpent himself. But the wilderness will not dominate the Son of David. Jesus is the Last Adam, and he enters the wilderness with the power to subdue and renew.”
The God who knows: Tim Challies encourages us, “We are so weak. Life is so hard. Our enemies are so vicious. But God is so good. For it’s to weak people, not strong or self-sufficient people, that the Bible assures us that Jesus knows. He knows the facts of your weaknesses, and even better, he knows the experience of your weaknesses.”
A gentle reminder: Anne Imboden on the power of gentleness, “When we are tempted to react rather than respond, let’s remember that relationships and the hearts they embody are fragile. Tenderness is key to their protection.”
Most churchgoers say they want to serve, fewer actually do: Marissa Postell Sullivan shares a data from a sobering survey, “Despite saying they want to serve people who are not a part of their church, few churchgoers are even serving within the context of their own churches. Two in 3 (66%) churchgoers say they have not volunteered for a charity (ministry, church or non-ministry) in the previous year.”

John Beeson

October 14, 2021

Recommendations, Christian Living, Relationships, Biblical Studies, Marriage, Family, Culture, Fear, Sexuality, Vocation

This Week’s Recommendations

John Beeson

October 14, 2021

Recommendations, Christian Living, Relationships, Biblical Studies, Marriage, Family, Culture, Fear, Sexuality, Vocation

Husbands, Be Like Adam: Usually we consider the ways Adam failed as a husband. But he did succeed in at least one way. Aaron Sironi explains that, “When we experience a dire situation, we are tempted to wallow in shame and to despair and turn against others. We must remember and believe God’s promises and his Good News, but not just for ourselves. We must turn in faith and love and speak with hopeful confidence to those around us.”
I’m Not All That Awesome: Adam Ramsey explains, “The gospel means that I’m not all that awesome. But I am loved. And that’s awesome. The gospel frees me to be honest about the ways I fall short instead of being crushed by them, because it reminds me that Jesus was crushed for me.”
I Do Ordinary Work: Dan Doriani explains that ordinary work is beautiful work. He concludes, “So let us lay down the deflating rhetoric of “I just” and affirm the value of ordinary work. Let us also look to change our corner of the world, even if our corner is modest and only a few notice what we do. If our Lord sees it, that should be enough.”
Fear No Evil: My friend Anne Imboden reflects on fear that grabs our heart and how to navigate it. She says, “Fear comes in two forms: rational and irrational. When we’re young, irrational fears are common. Monsters under our bed, for example. I myself had a ridiculously irrational fear of swallowing pills. I was sure the pill, however small it was, would lodge itself in my throat and I would suffocate. I insisted on taking all medicines in liquid form until I was in high school.”
How Do We Overcome Sexual Sin? Bob Kelleman points us to analyze our longings. He says, “Jesus knows all about all of us. As our Creator, He knows that our core issue is a worship issue. That’s why, with the Samaritan woman, He doesn’t focus on her “co-dependency” or even her “sexual addiction” per se. Jesus focuses on her core spiritual thirst.”

John Beeson

May 6, 2021

Recommendations, Suffering, Christian Living, Comedy

This Week's Recommendations

John Beeson

May 6, 2021

Recommendations, Suffering, Christian Living, Comedy

1. How My Mind Changed About End-of-Life Care: Justin Taylor explains well the challenge of considering how to make end-of-life decisions. He shares that, “Many Christians—myself included—have assumed that being pro-life means extending life as long as possible. If, for example, a feeding tube can provide the food and water, or a ventilator can pump oxygen, then we should always use all the means at our disposal to preserve a human life.”

2. No Condemnation, but What About Consequences? Courtney Reissig reflects on her cervical cancer and concludes, “Sin is serious. Sin has consequences, sometimes deadly ones. But sin has a remedy. In him, it is finished. Shame has no place. There is no condemnation for those who trust in Christ—not now, not ever.”

3. How to Know You’ve Become a Pharisee: Randy Alcorn offers this parable. He begins, “Imagine yourself moving into a house with a huge picture window overlooking a grand view across a wide expanse of water enclosed by a range of snow-capped mountains.”

4. Save Me From Myself: My friend Anne Imboden transparently shares about her struggle with social anxiety, the fall-out of that struggle, and God’s transformative work in her heart. She begins, “There’s a big part of my story most people don’t know about. I don’t share it very often and when I do, the response is usually one of surprise. No, I’m not talking about my ten years of playing softball. Though really, why is everyone so dumbfounded that I have a history of athleticism? (Actually, don’t answer that.) I’m talking about depression and social anxiety; demons I faced for years in my early adulthood. “But you’re such an extrovert!” “I’d never have known! You’re so comfortable in a crowd!” “Really? You’re always so confident around people!” These things are all true, though my extroverted tendencies have been dialed back considerably since my recovery.”

5. Ouch!: If you like physical comedy, enjoy this 60 seconds of ridiculousness.

John Beeson

October 22, 2020

Recommendations, Christian Living

This Week's Recommendations

John Beeson

October 22, 2020

Recommendations, Christian Living

1. Woe is Me: Abigail Dodds reflects on the sin of self-pity and how to be free from it. She reframes the biblical story, “There is a sense in which the entire story of the Bible exists to wake us up from the stupor of deadly self-pity and cause us to receive the only pity powerful enough to save us — the pity of God.”

2. Autumn and the Beauty of Death for the Christian: Tim Counts with a beautiful piece reflecting on fall in New England. He concludes, “Winter can be long and bleak. After the leaves fall, our trees will be barren here for over 6 months. But lift your heads, brothers and sisters, because spring follows winter. It may be fall now, but springtime – and Resurrection Morning – is coming.”

3. What Christians Can Bring to Online Conflict: Greg Morse with an important reflection on the power of fire and our tongue. He concludes, “And instead of setting flame to everything it comes in contact with, it hopes, ‘May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb.’”

4. The Goodness of the Wrath of God: My friend Sarah Sanderson with a very helpful consideration as to why even God’s wrath is good news. She asks an important question: “Practically speaking, if you have a high view of God’s sovereignty (as I always believed that I had), it means, (or I always took it to mean) that whatever happens is whatever God wanted to happen. If God has the power to do anything, and the ability to control everything, then surely anything and everything that happens has been willed and controlled by God?”

5. Pride is Meant to Be Swallowed: My friend Anne Imboden shares about pride, humility, and love. She shares of the moment repentance breaks through her son’s proud heart, “When I hold my arms out to reassure him, the weight of sin is lifted and the freedom of humility releases his heart. Owning up to God first helps us own up to others, because we can approach them with a heart that has been humbled by God’s great grace.”

6. How to Stop Hating Yourself: Emma Scrivener’s piece is clear and important. Maybe you need to hear these truths today.

John Beeson

September 3, 2020

Recommendations, Politics, Parenting, Marriage, Church, Leadership

This Week's Recommendations

John Beeson

September 3, 2020

Recommendations, Politics, Parenting, Marriage, Church, Leadership

1. Confessions of a Recovering Political Idolater: I resonated with Jared Wilson's post. He says, "I have to stay aware of them, because when I am not consciously and intentionally directing my gaze to the glory of Christ, I can very easily get swept up in the winds of political discourse. I can get too animated by the rise and fall of those who cannot thwart God's purposes. I can get too angry or too disappointed in or too fearful of brothers and sisters who don't think about these things exactly like I do."

2. 4 Types of Churches in Dealing with Politics: Eric Geiger reflects on how churches tend to engage politics. Most importantly, we need to be those who can be offended and changed when the Bible confronts even our political ideologies. “I heard Tim Keller say in a sermon about the Bible: ‘If the Bible really came from God, and wasn’t the product of any one culture, wouldn’t it offend every culture in some way?’ He was not speaking about the Republican and Democrat parties/culture, but I believe the quote applies.”

3. How to Avoid Becoming the Leader Everyone Resents: Helpful advice from Carey Niewhof. He begins, "There is no level of leadership that exempts you from your weaknesses. You can lead one of the largest organizations in the world. You will still have weaknesses and frustrate your team. In fact, higher levels of leadership don’t mask your weaknesses, it exposes them."

4. Still Growing: Melissa Edgington always puts simple truths elegantly. Here she reflects on 21 years of marriage, "When I stepped through the back doors of the church back in 1999 and saw that precious boy that I loved standing at altar, I had no idea that knowing him was going to make me more like Jesus. We have grown. And we’re just getting started."

5. 2 in 5 Churchgoers Regularly Attend Multiple Churches: And four other church trends. An eye-opening read. Aaron Earls reports. In more encouraging news, "Two-thirds of churched adults (65%) and 82% of practicing Christians say they attend church because they “'enjoy doing it.'”

6. For Passion’s Sake: My friend, Anne Imboden just launched her blog at Glory in the Grind. You should subscribe. Her storytelling and sense of humor are great. Here she reflects on her kids and the worthwhile cost of fostering their passions, “It’s both inspiring and exhausting to have a 5 year old who loves to cook. Fueling his fire and encouraging his dream means I need to learn to share my kitchen and resign to the fact that it will never truly be clean again. It means I need to include him on my menu planning, letting him choose recipes from his own cookbooks and kits. It means I need to start preparing dinner at least 30 minutes earlier than usual to allow time to show him each step, wait on his slower motor skills, and clean up mistakes. It means I need to die to myself a little and let go of control, for the sake of supporting his passion… He is capable, and I need to give him opportunities to prove it. (Dinner was delicious.)”