Worship
John Beeson
Lost in Literal

Today I get to share with you another poem from my daughter Camille. This poem is based on Nicodemus’s interaction with Jesus in  John 3:1-15. Enjoy! -John

Lost in Literal
Recommendations, Culture, Wisdom
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. When safety becomes a god: Christopher Cook warns, “We’re living in a cultural moment where safety has been enthroned as the highest virtue. You hear it everywhere: “I need to feel safe here.” “I need to feel seen.” “I need to feel welcome.” On the surface, these phrases sound kind. Compassionate, even. But beneath the sentimental polish, there’s often an unspoken expectation: ‘Don’t challenge me.’”

  2. A biblical pathway to emotional wisdom: Dan Brewer says, “Our emotions are not a flaw in God’s design. They are not a curse either—they are a gift.

This Week's Recommendations
Biblical Studies, Christian Living, Culture
John Beeson
Hurt Feelings

Feelings matter. Even if we are certain that truth is firmly in our grasp, it isn’t appropriate to use it like a whip on the back of the skeptic.

In a desire to restore the balance of perceived power, contemporary Western culture has offered a wider berth for those who have historically wielded less power. Our culture declares that our privilege determines whether or not we are allowed to share “our truth.” Intersectionality doles out chips based on a group’s power. Those who come from advantaged portions of society are given fewer chips in order to balance the conversation.

Hurt Feelings
Christian Living, Consumerism, Spiritual Growth
John Beeson
My Wandering Eye and Jesus' Single Eye

Who among us, if given the possibility, wouldn’t take an extra hour in the day or an extra day in the week?

We stuff life to the fullest and then sprinkle more on the top. Why put your kid in one club when you can put them in a club and a sport? Why follow one sport, when you can follow all the major sports? Why be smart, when you can be smart and healthy? Our flesh tempts us to pack more in; Jesus tells us to live with single priority.

My Wandering Eye and Jesus' Single Eye
Recommendations, Church, Counseling, Theology
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. How Christians can inadvertently moralize unpleasant emotions: Brad Hambrick asks, “’What percentage of our unpleasant emotions are accounted for by sin and how much by suffering?’ The simple answer is, “We don’t know.” If anyone says with confidence that most unpleasant emotions are caused by one or the other, they are merely revealing their bias.”

  2. Everything matters: Christa Threlfall says, “It’s not enough to eliminate the “big sins” that other people can see; Jesus wants every part of our being to belong to him.”

This Week's Recommendations

culture

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. When safety becomes a god: Christopher Cook warns, “We’re living in a cultural moment where safety has been enthroned as the highest virtue. You hear it everywhere: “I need to feel safe here.” “I need to feel seen.” “I need to feel welcome.” On the surface, these phrases sound kind. Compassionate, even. But beneath the sentimental polish, there’s often an unspoken expectation: ‘Don’t challenge me.’”

  2. A biblical pathway to emotional wisdom: Dan Brewer says, “Our emotions are not a flaw in God’s design. They are not a curse either—they are a gift.

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A Womb or Two for Every Man

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A Womb or Two for Every Man

What is distinctive about femininity and masculinity? Our culture is confused about what is distinctive about what it is to be a woman and what it is to be a man. Some have Christians parachuted in trying to provide clarity only to overstate or misstate how the Bible speaks to this question. The truth is that God’s Word blows up our narrowly defined cultural constructs and categories.

So long as we go hunting in scripture for proof of our expectations about masculinity and femininity, we are likely to create two-dimensional cut-outs in place of God’s three-dimensional realities.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Understanding therapy culture from different generations: This article from Sheryl Jacob resonates with my experience in the counseling room with different generations. “Millennials (born 1981-1996) grew up with therapy as mainstream - encouraged to talk about trauma, set boundaries, process their inner child, and name anxiety. While this openness is good, this generation also normalised many struggles the Church should have addressed long ago.”

  2. Be drunk with love: J.A. Medders encourages, “We get filled with the Spirit—when bottles (barrels) of the vintage gospel hit our bloodstream, our Blood Gospel Content rises above the legalistic limit.”

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Grieving God's Heart

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Grieving God's Heart

Six chapters into the Bible and only three chapters after Adam and Eve committed the first sin against God, the hearts of humanity have turned in on themselves. They desire to please themselves alone. God’s heart is broken. Listen to the narrative in Genesis 6. It’s a remarkable glimpse into God’s emotional life,

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart….

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. My top ten theology stories of 2024: Collin Hansen reports. #2 is encouraging, “Gen Z has borne the consequences of pandemic closures and therapy influencers, so it makes sense they’d also benefit from the church’s efforts to foster resilience through catechesis and spiritual formation.”

  2. Hunter Biden and a father’s pardon: Stephen Steele reflects on President Biden’s pardon to make a spiritual point.

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Vulgar Authenticity

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Vulgar Authenticity

Who is your favorite celebrity? Your favorite political pundit? Your favorite politician?

Why are you drawn to these individuals? Maybe it is their personality. Perhaps it is because you respect their convictions. Possibly, it is because of their unique style.

Taylor Swift might be the most beloved celebrity in the world. Many have commented that one of the reasons that Swift has cultivated such a devoted following is her accessibility and down-to-earth qualities, from what she wears to the love stories she writes about in her music.

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Marshmallows and Friends

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Marshmallows and Friends

Most have heard of the famous Stanford marshmallow experiment. In 1970, psychologist Walter Mischel invited kids into his lab. A child was offered a marshmallow that they could eat, or, if they waited until the researcher returned, they were given a second marshmallow. About one-third of the kids waited approximately fifteen minutes for the additional reward.

The study then tracked those children over time and found that children who waited for the second reward tended to have higher SAT scores and lower body mass indexes. Later tests have challenged those outcomes, but it hasn’t stopped parents everywhere from running the experiment on their kids, often with humorous results.

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What Spooks You?

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What Spooks You?

Across the street from our home is the holiday house. You probably have one in your neighborhood. They go all out for every holiday. On Saturday, cars stacked up on the main road leading into the neighborhood as families drove by slowly, taking in the massive display that must have cost the owners thousands of dollars.

 

Last week I drove by a home whose Halloween decorations weren’t as massive or ostentatious, but the lawn display was undoubtedly the eeriest I’ve ever seen. A life-like severed head hung from a tree limb. A decapitated corpse with a visible spinal cord jutting out between slumped shoulders sat underneath.

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The Untrustworthiness of Me

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The Untrustworthiness of Me

My car glided down our suburban streets when I noted the silver Civic maneuver a hurried U-turn a hundred yards or so in front of me. “That’s quite an aggressive driver,” I thought to myself. I watched as the driver floored their Civic and closely tailed the SUV in front of them in the right lane. “Oh wow,” I thought. That young man is in a hurry or is angry. The Civic kept tailing the SUV even though the left lane was empty. “This must be personal,” I thought.

 As we came up to the stop light, I was cautious.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Why I’m not an exvangelical: Carey Nieuwhof explains, “I, too, am tired of the abuse, corruption, arrogance, shallow thinking, anti-intellectualism, partisanship, and politicization of the Christian message. I’m done with the racism, toxic culture, and the abuse of power we see again and again.”

  2. What do Mormons believe about marriage? Liesl Counterman explains, “In Mormonism, the bare minimum entrance requirement to eternal life is baptism, but the way to reach the highest heaven is through marriage.”

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