Spiritual Growth, Christian Living, Wisdom, Identity
John Beeson
The Power of Ownership

One of the many disappointing realities about the American political landscape is the lack of ownership. It’s not just politicians who shirk ownership – we all do. When my microphone sounds wonky, my mind immediately goes to the sound tech wondering if he will remedy his mistake, not to the more likely responsible party: myself. I probably moved the microphone or pulled the cord.

Of course we know that avoiding ownership usually backfires. Our esteem falls for those who dodge responsibility. But even still, the temptation to blame shift is strong in all of us.

The Power of Ownership
Identity, Biblical Studies, Christian Living, Death, Spiritual Growth
John Beeson
Our Desires Lead to Death

“I am what I feel” sums up expressive individualism.  Our culture frames identity around discovering what our deepest desires and longings are. To know our longings is to know ourselves.

 

In Billie Eilish’s 2023 song “What was I made for?” written for “Barbie,” Eilish reflects on the confusing journey to understand her feelings. It’s this journey, she assures herself that will lead to her happiness.

Our Desires Lead to Death
Spiritual Growth, Christian Living, Forgiveness, Wisdom
John Beeson
A Dire Warning for Me? Where?

“The end is near!” “Repent!”

Have you ever seen a statement of prophetic warning spray-painted on a wall or in a subway station? got to be honest, I don’t take much notice to such warnings. But what if those warnings were for me and for you?

A Dire Warning for Me? Where?
Identity, Parenting
John Beeson
Do You Have a Graduate in Your Life?

We are feeling all the feels. Our youngest, Soren, is about to graduate from high school. This has been a season of reflection for Angel and me and a season of preparation. In our children’s ministry hallways at New Life next to each age level we have containers that represent how many days of influence remain for you as a parent before your child launches. I recognize, of course, that there is no finish line for parenting, but one’s influence and role changes significantly in each season.

 As we look back on our parenting, the most important things we taught our children were who God is and who they were.

Do You Have a Graduate in Your Life?
Fear, Identity, Prayer, Spiritual Growth
John Beeson
Exchanging Intrusive Thoughts for God-talk

Intrusive thoughts are unwelcome and hard to control. I can remember having intrusive thoughts from the time I was a child. When we drove, I often felt the compulsion to press one foot down on the floor between the telephone poles (and yes, I also hopped over the cracks in the sidewalk). At other times, when walking alone, I remember the persistent thought, “He’s watching you.” I would search the bushes and trees for the one my mind told me was watching me.

Exchanging Intrusive Thoughts for God-talk

Abigail Dodds

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Thanksgiving Recommendations

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Thanksgiving Recommendations

1. What’s God’s Will For You in 2020? Eric Geiger suggests the answer is connected to today’s holiday.

2. How Do I ‘Count It All Joy’: I smiled when I saw Joel Smit’s article, which is similar (but deeper) than the reflection I offered this week on the same passage. He shares, “These seemingly cold words of James are actually filled with warm gospel truth and hope as they point the troubled soul to the root from which the true healing balm comes.”

3. Surviving the Holidays: Kerry Patterson shares the story of the Thanksgiving he was a moron and what he’s learned from that lousy holiday where he just had to be right: “Here’s my plan. I’m going to start every discussion by asking what I really want. Does everyone really have to believe what I believe? Do I really have to win each and every point?”

4. Blessed Are the Unoffendable: Abigail Dodds shares a message so contradictory to our flesh and to the culture. She shares the danger of taking offense easily, “Offended people can become unassailable. Recalcitrant. Too hard-hearted to hear an appeal. When we are offended, we believe ourselves to have the moral high ground; therefore, we feel justified in making the one who has offended us a villain.”

5. Don’t Adopt That One: Emma Scrivner with a powerful reflection on adoption.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

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.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1. Americans Aren't Sure They Can Trust Pastors: Aaron Earls begins, "In a Pew Research study of Americans’ views on institutional leaders, religious leaders are often in the middle of the pack among groups like police officers, public school principals, journalists, and leaders of tech companies. Almost 7 in 10 U.S. adults (69%) say religious leaders act unethically at least some of the time, with 10% saying they do so most of the time."

2. When Self-Preservation Becomes Our God: My friend Benjamin Vrbicek reflects on Peter and an issue that is ever-present for us all.

3. The Day the Phone Rang Out: Seth Lewis with a simple but powerful story.

4. The Beauty and Abuse of Empathy: We don’t typically think about empathy as something that can be misused. Abigail Dodds offers valuable insight for those with the gift of empathy and warns us of its potential misuse through isolation, cowardice, and manipulation.

5. How the Chair You See Everywhere Came to Be: I had never thought about the ubiquity of this plastic chair and why that was.

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