This week I have the blessing of sharing a post from my daughter, Camille. Camille just graduated from college. In her post below, which she wrote as a college freshman, she offers wisdom for herself as a high school freshman. I’m sure you’ll be blessed by the hard truths she wrestles with. -John
Hi high school freshman me! It is freshman college me, writing to encourage you in hard truths that you will wrestle with over the next four years.
As I begin college, I am borderline overwhelmed with the repercussions and magnitude of my sin patterns.
What it means that Christ is praying for you today: Dave Harvey says, “Now, because of our Advocate, we receive what Christ deserved: a full hearing before our loving Father. We are not beggars hoping heaven might notice us. We are beloved children invited to make our requests known to God (Phil. 4:6). Christ was forsaken so we could be heard. His advocacy means our prayers reach the throne.”
One at a time: Andrea Sanborn wants us to consider something about how Jesus performed his miracles, “Most of his healing miracles were simply performed for one person.
Christians know that the realities of this world are beyond what we see. Paul reminds us that, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 4:12).
But what do we do with such knowledge of an invisible war being waged?
May I suggest one very simple way to participate in this war? Join your pre-service prayer team.
Every Sunday at New Life at both campuses, we gather at 7:30 to spend time in prayer for the day ahead.
Greetings, faithful readers!
Do you know that we publish The Bee Hive in video and podcast form? Check out The Bee Hive’s playlist on New Life Bible Fellowship’s YouTube page or search for New Life Bible Fellowship on whatever podcast platform you use.
Here are a few samples of the videos on YouTube. Enjoy!
The threat of passivity
The croucher
Why we don’t trust pastors
Let me dwell in your tent forever: Wes Bredenhof explains how to understand David’s cry in Psalm 61:4, “Let me dwell in your tent forever!” “Now here’s an important detail about the tabernacle: no one was allowed to dwell in it. It was God’s dwelling and God alone. By God’s command, the High Priest came into the Most Holy Place once per year.”
The body keeps score. But the mind and heart do too: Beth Claes says, “Being a Christian doesn’t prevent trauma or eliminate body-mind responses to it. But recognizing that God created us with an interconnected body, mind, and heart informs how we understand trauma
Why so many Christians never grow up: Christopher Cook says, “Sound doctrine without obedience leads to intellectual pride. Obedience without truth leads to misguided zeal. Community without truth becomes sentimentality. Truth without love becomes harshness. But when truth, obedience, and love converge under the authority of Christ, something remarkable begins to happen: believers begin to grow up.”
Spaghetti again: Andrea Sanborn reflects on the faithful life in the mundane. S
There is an ancient proverb that says, “The man who loves all women loves no women. The man who loves one woman loves all women.” There is real wisdom in that saying. True love is faithful and sacrificial; flirtatious love is selfish and shallow. We all know people who love the idea of love more than the actual people they claim to love.
There are several ways this disordered desire can show itself. Psychologists have described three common patterns: serial love addiction, seduction addiction, and limerence.
Serial love addiction is a compulsive pursuit of the experience of "falling in love" and the emotional high that comes with romantic excitement.
Blessing the voyage: launching them without losing them: My friend and colleague Stacy MacLaren with a timely piece, “We don’t raise our children to keep them. We raise them to release them.”
An unremarkable life: Jonny Pollock says, “The modern mantra appears simple. Be remarkable. Whether through career achievements, our social media feeds, or our personal brands (don’t roll your eyes, we all have them!), the pressure is relentless.”
Has religion disappointed you? Has God let you down?
How do we make sense of God and the world when we feel so hurt by them? Doesn’t the world make more sense without a God who would allow the evil that we see and experience?
Friedrich Nietzsche, a prophet ahead of his time, saw the allure of the modern rejection of God. But he also recognized the serious consequences of such a conclusion. If Soren Kierkegaard demanded the Christian to take a “leap of faith” toward God, Nietzsche demanded that the atheist take a leap of faith into the abyss.
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