Christian Living, Culture, Spiritual Growth
John Beeson
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….

Grieving God's Heart
Recommendations, History, Nature, Religion, Wisdom
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. When God says now: Christopher Cook says, “I understand the hesitation, but you and I need discernment for this hour. We are being called to submit. Our job is not to assess our readiness (according to our perspective). It is to step forward with clean hands, a yielded spirit, and a heart tethered to the will of the Father.”

  2. The secret things: Andrea Sanborn concludes, “Someday we’ll know the secret things that our mortality can’t fathom. “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known”, as the Apostle Paul explained it. But for now, it’s okay to rest in wonder. Because wonder, in the end, is worship.”

This Week's Recommendations
Wisdom, Christian Living, Culture, Death, Fear, Politics
John Beeson
A Pastoral Reflection on the Israel-Iran ...

October 7, 2023 Iranian backed Hamas terrorists waged the deadliest attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. The moment I heard, I buried my head in my hands grieving that again great suffering had begun.

From that day, I have prayed anew for peace and justice as this round of tensions between Israel and Iran unfolds. Gaza, Hezbollah in the north, all of it is, at its root, the same conflict.

Then, on Saturday afternoon, like many of you, I read that American B-2 bombers dropped 14 “bunker buster” bombs on Iranian nuclear facilities. We joined the conflict. Some call it a war.

A Pastoral Reflection on the Israel-Iran Conflict
Biblical Studies, Christian Living, Culture, Sexuality
John Beeson
Rainbows, Pride Months, and the Flood

Rainbow flags might be filling store windows in your town this June. In 1978, Harvey Milk, a prominent gay politician and activist, commissioned Gilbert Baker to create a visual symbol for the gay community. Baker designed a rainbow flag with eight colors. The flag was flown at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade and quickly became a symbol of pride and visibility for the LGBTQ+ community.

Of course, the LGBTQ+ community was not the first community to claim the rainbow as a symbol. God gave the rainbow to Noah and his family following the flood as a promise that he would be merciful in his judgment.

Rainbows, Pride Months, and the Flood
Recommendations, Church, Culture, Identity, Parenting
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. Three truths your daughter needs to hear about beauty: Kristen Wetherell begins, “The first comment we make to other women is usually about their looks.”

  2. Why did God command Abraham to sacrifice Isaac: Abraham Kuruvilla answers that question movingly in this video.

  3. How to know if your church is life-giving: Dustin DeJong begins, “I’ve worked at five different churches over the past few decades. They’ve ranged from small and scrappy to mega-sized and polished.

This Week's Recommendations

Christian Living

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The Four Villains of Christmas: the Gifts of the Magi

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The Four Villains of Christmas: the Gifts of the Magi

Does anyone have an extra $886 you don’t know what to do with? Too late. Your Christmas shopping already decided for you where that’s going. This year Americans predicted they would spend an average of $886 on their Christmas shopping.[i]

Enter the third villain this Christmas season: the gifts of the Magi.

The Magi are an iconic part of the Christmas story. Unbelievably, a group of philosopher-astronomers from the East (probably Persia) had knowledge that only a handful in all of Israel had: a Savior-King has been born in Bethlehem. Following the prophecies, they made their trek to Bethlehem to meet this Savior-King. When they arrived, “they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him.”[ii]

And they do not come empty-handed. They come bearing three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Each of these gifts has meaningful symbolism befitting the child-King. Items of great value, each gift proclaimed that Jesus was the King who would restore Israel.[iii] Isaiah predicted that nations and kings would come and “bring gold and frankincense and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord” (Is 60:6). Many scholars believe that the gifts point to the nature of the reign of this Messiah: the gold symbolizing his kingship, frankincense representing his priestly role, and myrrh pointing to his death.

Those gifts, according to many, were the impetus for the tradition of gift-giving at Christmas time.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. A Pillar of Salt: TM Suffield warns us of nostalgia during Christmas season, “Advent tells me that my idea of Christmas is manufactured nostalgia, a good portion of which is created by people who want to sell me things. They don’t want me to be satisfied, or to learn to wait, or to wrestle the darkness—they want me just the right sort of sad to buy more things.”

  2. The Middle Years: Melissa Edgington begins her reflection on mid-life, “These days I feel a little as if I’m grieving for a younger me. I look in the mirror, and I contend with the greying hair and the imperfections that come with age, always shocked to remember that my neckline sags in the way of grandmothers and old great aunts. I have come to middle age, and I must say that it’s a difficult stop on this journey of being a woman.”

  3. 7 in 10 Women Who Have Had an Abortion Identify as Christian: This is an eye-opening report that ought to remind us that we need to care not just for the unborn, but for those who have to navigate the tragic decision of abortion. We need to be vulnerable places of care and support. The findings state, “For half of those regular churchgoers (52%), they still haven’t told anyone at their church about their abortion. Less than 2 in 5 (38%) say someone at their church knows they had an abortion. Women likely haven’t told people at their church because most don’t see the church or the people there as safe and feel they will be judged, not loved.”

  4. Our Dog’s Annual Performance Review: Caroline O’Donoghue’s article had me cracking up. “You are a terrible employee. But you’re a very, very good girl.”

  5. Sexual Abuse, Sexual Brokenness, and the Gospel: Preston Sprinkle interviews Jay Stringer on his podcast “Theology in the Raw.” Stringer shares his findings in his book Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing. The book shares significant research that reveals the key drivers of unwanted sexual behavior: from pornography to infidelity.

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The Four Villains of Christmas: The Innkeeper

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The Four Villains of Christmas: The Innkeeper

Every self-respecting children’s nativity play has Mary and Joseph greeted by the gruff Innkeeper who rudely tells Mary and Joseph that there’s no room and then, for good effect, slams the door in their faces. What was the motivation of this heartless hotel manager? Why didn’t he find a place for this pregnant woman? Today we met the second villain of Christmas: the Innkeeper.

The biblical story isn’t nearly as clear as to the backstory of this Innkeeper. There is a just a fleeting reference to the incident and that reference only occurs after Jesus’ birth. Luke tells us simply, “And [Mary] gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”[i]

Unlike last week’s obvious villain: Herod, the Innkeeper is trickier to understand. In the ambiguity, though, we find ourselves and the reality that Christmas reveals in us the sneaky villain of a lack of prioritization. Surely the Innkeeper should have been able to find a place for Mary and her child.

Let’s first briefly consider who this Innkeeper might have been and why he didn’t have room for Mary and Joseph. While we naturally think of the Innkeeper in a modern setting (perhaps you picture a hotel manager in your mind’s eye), that isn’t quite right.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Science Can’t Answer Transgenderism’s Deepest Questions: Shane Morris says, “The transgender movement has taken the primary question of this cultural debate completely out of the realm of science. By every identifiable physical trait, a person may be a member of one sex. But if, despite all of this, he identifies as the opposite sex, that is what he really is, according to the transgender movement.”

  2. Where Doctrine Meets the Desolate: Lara d’Entremont begins her powerful post, “I cried in my home office with only the moon providing streaks of light for me. My sobs distorted my words so much I’m sure only God could understand my prayers—pleas for relief, a sign, a moment of comfort, or his fatherly touch—anything to carry me just one more step forward.”

  3. Should We Pursue Self-Love? Randy Alcorn might overstate his case a bit here, but the core argument is solid. He begins, “I’ve often heard it said in evangelical messages, books, and articles that God’s Word teaches three kinds of love—love for God, love for others, and love for self.”

  4. Know Yourself and Speak: Pierce Hibbs begins with these sobering statistics, “According to a recent study, one in ten men struggles with anxiety or depression, but less than half of these seek help. Men die 3.5 times more often than women from suicide. They’re also twice as likely to binge drink. Perhaps most disturbing, another study found that 45% of men believe their mental health problems will resolve themselves, and so they admit to never talking to anyone else about their issues. In light of those truths.”

  5. Abortion Battled at the Supreme Court: Last week one of the most significant cases in our lifetime was argued before the Supreme Court. It’s worth listening to the entirety of the arguments that were made.

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The Four Villains of Christmas: Herod

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The Four Villains of Christmas: Herod

Advent has arrived. It’s a time for joy and generosity and hope and celebration. But threats lurk. Over the next four weeks we will consider four villains of Christmas. The first villain is King Herod. King Herod fought for power. The yearning for power in our own hearts endangers Christmas.

Herod was the villain at the first Christmas. He was a politician’s politician. He was oily and underhanded, vicious and cold-hearted. Born in 73 BC, Herod rose to power quickly (in his mid-twenties) by maneuvering his way through the Roman political machine. He was ultimately given the title “King of Judea” by the Roman Senate.[i] Upon rising to power, Herod murdered anyone who might be his rival, including three of his sons and his first wife, Mariamne.

Herod’s paranoia served him well and allowed him to rule for 37 years—far longer than most. His political savvy extended well past his paranoia. A half-Jew himself, Herod was a master of alliances, eventually taking ten wives, each gaining him a strategic political advantage. And he knew the power of tangible change. Herod took on massive building projects throughout Judea including the construction of the port at Caesarea Maritima, the Second Temple, the fortress at Masada, and Herodium. Many of these can still be seen in Israel today. In fact, most beautiful ancient buildings that remain in Israel are Herod’s handiwork. To fund these projects, Herod levied massive taxes on the people that created animus between him and the people (and also helps us understand just how hated the tax collectors we meet in the Bible were).

One day in the final years of Herod’s life, a group of Magi from the East requested an audience with the King of Judea.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. The Anxiety of Perpetual Yearbook Day: Eric Geiger likens social media today as a perpetual version of the day yearbooks came out. It’s a great analogy. He shares, “One of the most anxious days each year for me in high school was yearbook day – the day when yearbooks were passed out to all the students.”

  2. 3 Reasons for Hope in the Midst of Grief: Alaistair Begg writes, “You do not have to live long as a believer to discover that faith does not insulate us from feelings like grief and the fear of it.”

  3. 7 Healthy Ways to Resolve Conflict: Carey Niewhof opines, “I’m increasingly convinced many churches simply don’t grow because they suffer from conflict and that many teams never thrive because there’s simply too much tension.”

  4. Defending Sound Doctrine Against the Deconstruction of American Evangelicalism: Jonathan Leeman’s post is lengthy, but worth the time to read for those who are disconcerted by evangelicals deconstructing their faith. His conclusions are thoughtful and nuanced. Note his suggestion of having race consciousness but rejecting race essentialism.

  5. What’s Love Got to Do With It: Hope you’re not tired of my Walk off the Earth recs 😊!

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Thank You, Great Church Members

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Thank You, Great Church Members

Presidents age poorly. This post on U.S. presidents before and after their terms reveals what we all know. The weight of running a country impacts you. Take a look at George HW Bush after just four years. Barack Obama had nary a grey hair when he entered office. When he left, he had a lot more salt than pepper.

Leadership isn’t easy. We pastors are called to keep watch over the sheep, prepared to give an account to God for their care. That is a heavy responsibility. Many (my former self included) aspire to leadership, not recognizing the burden that comes with caring for people. Many people are hard to lead. They disengage, they wander, they chafe at correction, and they demand that their preferences are met.

Not all church members are hard to lead, though. Some of you make leading easy. I treasure you.

The author of Hebrews has an interesting word to the church he is writing to. He says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you” (Heb 13:17). Did you catch that last part, “Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you”?

To whom is that comment directed? I’ve always read it as an encouragement to leaders to lead with joy and not groaning or grumbling. I think that’s true. We must lay our anxieties and frustrations as leaders before God and let him carry them. The flock is God’s, not ours, and so we must trust him with those who are difficult. To have our joy sapped by challenging congregants is to reveal the idol of control in our hearts. I have been and continue to be convicted by these words.

I recently heard this preached as an admonition to congregants as well. That had me returning to the text, and sure enough. It’s right there. “Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you” (Heb 13:17).

The more I read it, the more I was convinced: this admonition is primarily to congregants.

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The Not-So-Insignificant Danger of Ingratitude

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The Not-So-Insignificant Danger of Ingratitude

There is a deadly gas that contaminates the air we breathe. The toxic gas appears unthreatening because everyone appears to breathe it in and breathe it out as harmlessly as oxygen.

The poison is ingratitude. And it is everywhere.

Everything (that I don’t have) is Awesome

Psychologists agree that social media has made us less happy. Why is that? Because the constant access into others’ lives taps into our propensity toward ingratitude. We are surrounded by neighbors with nicer cars, friends who take better and longer vacations, couples who are happier, and everyone seems to be fitter and better dressed than we are. And it’s all there for us to see tucked into that powerful, shiny rectangle in our pockets. Every minute of every day.

“Hamilton” came to Tucson this week and I watched as my Facebook feed was filled with pictures of those who gushed over the show. We were blessed to attend and so my heart was guarded against jealousy. But where will my heart be in the spring when I am unable to attend a show I was really hoping to go to because I have a scheduling conflict?

The Ancient Beginnings of Ingratitude.

The story of how it all fell apart is a story you’ve heard. God’s perfectly ordered creation and Adam and Eve’s response of gratitude lasts all of two chapters. God creates man and woman. He invites them to live alongside himself in perfect peace. He names them as king and queen over this paradise and grants them great latitude in their reign.

He creates a tree in the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and he says “Everything is yours for taking and enjoying except this one. This one you need to stay away from.”[i] Will they be content with the 99.9% of what they were given, orwill they be discontent with the .1% they weren’t given? Will ingratitude set it? That .1% was the sliver Satan slid through.

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The Danger of Nostalgia

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The Danger of Nostalgia

What’s your favorite family memory? What is your favorite memory of church? Your favorite holiday memory? Recollecting can bring warm feelings toward people and fond memories of places. Nostalgia can stoke gratitude. It appears that God rejoices in godly nostalgia. Take a look at Psalm 78 or Psalm 105 where God takes his people on a tour of their past and we see his faithfulness on display.

Last week we celebrated my son’s 16th birthday. My wife sent a dozen pictures of Soren through the years in our family text strand. My eyes filled with tears and my heart almost burst as I reflected on each of the moments in his life Angel had captured through her photos. My son is such a gift to us: his tender heart, his sense of humor, his perceptiveness. It is a gift to go back and re-live sweet and joy-filled moments that we have shared.

And yet. There is danger in nostalgia.

The Perfect Isn’t Behind Us

Nostalgia can make it seem as though the perfect lies behind us. When we reminisce, there can be a halo effect over times and places in our past that distorts reality. We remember a vacation fondly, thinking that our family was delighted in that season of our lives, only to forget the squabbles on vacation, or the Monopoly game that ended in tears. We recollect a sweet season in a church we used to go to, but forget that the church was pretty insider-focused and had a poor evangelistic outreach. We think fondly of a time when we worked for a company that was making a big difference in its industry, but omit from our memory the overly critical boss.

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Drag Out Your Dumpsters

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Drag Out Your Dumpsters

Along the route from my house to the church is an undeveloped intersection on three of its four corners. Two medium-trafficked two-lane roads converge (Camino de Oeste and Linda Vista for those local Tucsonans) at a stop sign. A few months ago, inexplicably, two massive forty-yard dumpsters showed up on one of the undeveloped corners. They sat empty for a few days, and then some observant neighbors, likely determining that the dumpster didn’t have another purpose, dumped a ragged armchair in the dumpster.

The proverbial floodgates opened. Old TV sets, broken dressers, bikes, and couches filled the two dumpsters to overflowing. Over the next two months, the dumpsters were emptied multiple times and then quickly filled. I still have no idea what the intent of the dumpster was. But all it took was putting the dumpster out to attract untold tons of junk to emerge from Northwest Tucson.

I think we all ought to drag metaphorical dumpsters out to the intersection of our hearts with others.

How do we put our dumpsters at the intersection of our hearts?

To put out dumpsters at the intersection of your heart and others begins by creating space for them.

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