Culture, Parenting, Sexuality, Relationships
John Beeson
What Do Teens Believe?

Are you encouraged or discouraged about teens? If you’re a teen, what is your perception of your peers? Are you hopeful? Or pessimistic? Not long ago, One Hope released a massive global study on the state of teens worldwide. In the report, we find reasons to be encouraged and causes for concern. 

Spending time reflecting on what teens believe and do ought to help shape the way we pray for them and relate to them. I’ll process five sections of the report: Christian practice, struggles, social media, sexuality, and the meaning of life in teens’ lives and then draw some conclusions.

What Do Teens Believe?
Death, Family, Forgiveness, Suffering
John Beeson
Impossible Forgiveness

I can still remember the slightly musty smell of my childhood church’s cramped library. It was there I discovered World War II memoir of Corrie ten Boom, the Dutch watchmaker, The Hiding Place. In ten Boom’s memoir the reader has to wrestle with the question, “how can we forgive?”

If you know ten Boom’s story, you’ll likely remember how God brought ten Boom face-to-face with a Nazi guard years after her imprisonment. If you haven’t heard this story, it’s worth your time and ten Boom’s account is posted below.

Impossible Forgiveness
Evangelism, Mission
John Beeson
The Great Commission May Be Fulfilled in our ...

Today, I have the opportunity to introduce you to my friend Tom Terry. Tom has a rare vantage point for some of the work God is doing around the globe. Tom is head of Global Broadcast Strategy for JESUS Film Project and manages English language radio stations for TWR. He also blogs on Bible study and theology at www.guywithabible.com.  If this sparks a desire to partner in Tom's ministry, I encourage you to contact him at tom.terry@cru.org.

-John

If you were asked, "What is God doing in the world today?" How would you respond? Let me share my answer with you.l here.

The Great Commission May Be Fulfilled in our Lifetime
Christian Living, Book Reviews, Wisdom
John Beeson
Do You Want to Be Wise?

I confess: I was never the biggest fan of the book of Proverbs. The 31 chapters chalk full of aphorisms always felt a little too self-helpy for my taste. I struggled with the lack of grace in the book, the apparent void for the need of the redeeming work of Christ. It felt like it bordered on the prosperity gospel: big promises without nuance. I found myself scratching my head in response to verses like “A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich” (Prov 10:4), and asking, “But what about the diligent born in Venezuela?”

But now I get it! Here is how my perspective on the Proverbs has changed.

Do You Want to Be Wise?
Education, Gratitude, Identity, Leadership, Wisdom
John Beeson
An Upside-Down Guide to High School

I vividly remember freshman year, walking into the big leagues with 6-foot-tall basketball players roaming the same halls as myself. Looking to these 18-year-old giants, nay, men who had seemingly figured all things out as they were so very close to tasting the real world. The crowds of friends blocking the hallways, (would I ever be a part of that?), the guy and girl walking side by side, (will I ever have that?), the announcements of the valedictorian over the loudspeaker, and the waves of congratulations that followed their steps, (I wonder if people will ever recognize me?).

An Upside-Down Guide to High School

Blaise Pascal

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Things to Not Say About Science

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Things to Not Say About Science

With over 1,000 videos and eight million subscribers, the Jubilee channel on YouTube is a popular platform for debate. Each episode of Jubilee brings people who have disagreements together to try to hash out their opposing opinions. They have episodes about everything from abortion to immigration to the Israel-Palestinian debate. In one of the episodes, two sides debate whether the earth is flat or not. Of the three proponents that the earth is flat, two of the three were Christians. The three opponents were all scientists.

How did we get here?

Christian friends, we’ve got to do better.

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Look and Live by Matt Papa

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Look and Live by Matt Papa

Ironically, for a group caricatured as being strict and unfeeling, the Puritan's greatest legacy is the insight that we are worshiping creatures whose beliefs and actions flow from our affections, not our minds. It is our desires, not our intellect that direct us.

Matt Papa takes this key insight and unpacks it beautifully in his book Look and Live. We are worshipers, created for worship from the womb. If we want to fight the grip of sin in our lives, Papa argues, we need only look at the greatest and most glorious object of our worship: God, who most powerfully reveals his glory on the cross. As Papa says, "we worship our way into sin. We must worship our way out."

The glory of God is no trivial thing. "The glory of God is the reason why every person in the Bible who encounters God nearly falls dead. It changes you. When we see God, we get small." Papa looks at God's glory in redemptive history and in nature, stoking the awe of our hearts.

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