Gratitude, Reading, Recommendations, Vocation
John Beeson
The Best of the Bee Hive 2025

“Gracious words are like a honeycomb,
sweetness to the soul and health to the body.”

Proverbs 16:24

I write because I believe these words to my core. Following a forty day fast, Jesus responds to Satan’s temptation to turn loaves into bread, by quoting Moses’s admonition to the Israelites who had seen that very type of miracle every day for forty days, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4/Dt. 8:3).

Israel had depended on God’s miraculous hand to bring manna for forty years—what could be more important than this daily bread?

The Best of the Bee Hive 2025
Forgiveness, Identity, Counseling, Religion, Spiritual Growth
John Beeson
Your Heart Is Not a Toy

“That isn’t a toy!” parents warn a child playing with a knife or a hammer.

Pharaoh thought he could play a game with God and win. He lost.

Your heart is not a toy.

The story of God’s battle with Pharaoh in the book of Exodus is the story of the consequences of a hardened heart. It’s the story of someone who thought they could toy with God and with their heart. We cannot.

In the first five plagues, Pharaoh’s hardens his heart three times and his heart “is hardened” (it’s ambiguous who is doing the hardening) twice.

Your Heart Is Not a Toy
Recommendations, Christmas, Christian Living, Death, Music
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. The ghost of Christmas never: Samuel James with a poignant Christmas reflection, especially for young men. “Fear is powerful. It warps the mind and shrinks the soul. It can deform character, like in Scrooge, or elicit despair, like in George. Most of all, it freezes. Fear paralyzes its host, suggesting that the next step will undoubtedly be wrong, or the next word will come back to haunt.”

  2. Human weakness doesn’t limit God: Paul David Tripp reminds us, “Sometimes we make good-hearted promises that later we realize we are unable to keep. We know things need to get done, but we do not have the power or the wisdom to do them. There is nothing that God has promised to do or that we need him to do that he is unable to do. Nothing.”

This Week's Recommendations
Advent, Christmas, Heaven, Music, Worship
John Beeson
Hark! Born to Raise

What kind of immortality do you dream of?

At just 19 years old, an ambitious commissioned officer of the French Royal Army faced a life-defining moment. As a revolution swept through France, would he support the people or the monarchy? His decision was based, as many would be throughout his life, more on strategy than belief. Which side would further his ambitions? As he would many times in his life, Napoleon Bonaparte backed the right side. Seven years later, Napoleon was commander of the French forces. He led an ambitious military campaign against the Austrians and their allies.

Hark! Born to Raise
Advent, Christmas, Music, Theology
John Beeson
Hark! Ris'n with Healing

As we prepare for Christmas, we are diving into one of the most theologically rich Christmas carols ever written: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.

December not only brings the celebration of our Lord’s birth, it often brings sickness. Just this week our daughter got hit with the flu. It’s appropriate that many of us might be a little needier this time of year as we are reminded that Jesus alone can bring healing. Do you need healing today? Does someone you love need healing?

Hark! Ris'n with Healing

Blogging

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The Best of the Bee Hive 2025

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The Best of the Bee Hive 2025

“Gracious words are like a honeycomb,
sweetness to the soul and health to the body.”

Proverbs 16:24

I write because I believe these words to my core. Following a forty day fast, Jesus responds to Satan’s temptation to turn loaves into bread, by quoting Moses’s admonition to the Israelites who had seen that very type of miracle every day for forty days, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4/Dt. 8:3).

Israel had depended on God’s miraculous hand to bring manna for forty years—what could be more important than this daily bread?

Want to Join the Team?

Want to Join the Team?

On November 3 my first book will hit the shelves. Whether you know it or not, you’ve been an important partner in writing this book. The book is co-authored by my friend and fellow blogger, Benjamin Vrbicek and it is on the topic of blogging. Blogging for God’s Glory in a Clickbait World is a guide for bloggers or aspiring bloggers, pointing them back to the goal of Christian blogging and providing helpful practices and tips.

For those of you who have an itch to write, I hope this book provides a nudge and a road map. For those of you who have friends who are bloggers or who might blog, I hope that you consider gifting this book to them as an encouragement.

You’ve been here with me through this journey of blogging and I would be honored if you would consider joining our Launch Team. Here is what it will mean.

If you are willing to serve on the launch team, we will send you a digital version of the book in the next few weeks to give you time to read it before its November 3 launch.

Another blog? Why?

Another blog? Why?

Why does the world need another blog? I suppose for the same reason the world needs another church. Those of us who play very minor roles in God’s kingdom could step aside for those who are more gifted, who have larger platforms, and who devote more time to something like a blog than a run-of-the-mill associate pastor at a small large church in a small large town.

But just as we don’t encourage our people to flip on TBN on Sunday morning or put up a screen and run the best of John Piper and Tim Keller on our platform during our services, I have the audacity to believe that God has the purpose for even those small stones that build up his holy house (1 Pet 2:5). 

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