Biblical Studies, Culture, Leadership
John Beeson
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.

A Womb or Two for Every Man
Recommendations, Relationships, Social Media, Suffering, Worship
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. The wilderness was never meant to last forever: Christopher Cook says, “The wilderness was never meant to be your home. For many of us, however, it has become one (a dysfunctionally comfortable one at that). Not because God’s promises changed, and not because your story was disqualified, but rather, because somewhere along the way, you might have stopped listening to the voice of the Lord and trusting His nature and His ways.”

  2. The great friendship collapse: In this video, Derek Thompson explains why we spend more time than ever and what the impact that has had on us.

This Week's Recommendations
Church, Christian Living
John Beeson
The Most Dangerous Moment of Faith

What is the greatest threat to our faith? There is truth in the danger of all of the above. Jim Davis and Michael Graham commissioned the largest and most comprehensive study of dechurching in America” by leading sociologists Ryan Burge and Paul Djupe. They report their findings in The Great DeChurching. Over the past twenty-five years, forty million Americans have stopped going to church? What were the reasons they stopped attending? All of those cited above were mentioned as reasons. But three quarters of those surveyed shared the same single reason: life changed.

The Most Dangerous Moment of Faith
Identity, Reading, Recommendations
John Beeson
Who are You?

Do you want to know God better? Know yourself better. You, after all, were made in his image. Do you want to know yourself better? Know God better.

My wife Angel and I wrote Trading Faces: Removing the Masks that Hide Your God-Given Identity in order to combat the lies we are tempted to believe about who we are and press into God’s Word to hear his truth.

Many have asked when the audiobook will release. We are delighted to share that the Trading Faces audiobook is now available!

Who are You?
Recommendations, Church, Family, Religion
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. Will I ever love a church again? Brittany Allen asks, “Could I reclaim that vulnerability that once came so naturally to me after it had been used as a weapon pointed at my own heart? Could God rebuild my faith in his Bride and redeem what had been lost?”

  2. The hidden curriculum of the wilderness: Christopher Cook says, “When you’re in that space—the wilderness between who you were and who you’re becoming—you will be tempted to mislabel it; to call it punishment; to rebuke it like it’s an attack; even, to distract yourself from it.

This Week's Recommendations
, , ,

This Week's Recommendations

, , ,
This Week's Recommendations

  1. Three lies that separate spouses: Dave Harvey’s first lie is, “I can’t forgive you until you confess all the sin I see.”

  2. How the gospel answers shame in college students: Connie Leung Nelson explains, “For a long time, when I noticed students withdrawing or heard them voice a sense of shame, my first impulse was to reassure them there was nothing wrong with them. I’d direct them to their accomplishments in an attempt to counteract shame with honor. But pointing students to their work and successes doesn’t un-shame them.

How to Forgive

How to Forgive

“How can I forgive them?” It’s a question spoken out of a yearning to release the one who has inflicted injury. It’s a question that is expressed out of hurt and sometimes anger.

How do we forgive the person who keeps sinning against us? How do we forgive the person who grievously sins against us? How do we forgive the person who sins against us and isn’t repentant?

Forgiveness is mandatory as a Christian. In his depiction of how we ought to pray, Jesus ties up our forgiveness with the forgiveness we offer, “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matt 6:12).

, , , , ,

Let Marriage Sustain Your Love

, , , , ,
Let Marriage Sustain Your Love

Yesterday we celebrated my parents’ 50th anniversary and offered words of thanks to them. Next Saturday I have the blessing of officiating a memorial service and a wedding. Preparing for these three events has had me reflecting on the weight of our choices and the gift of God’s design for marriage. In a world where marriages are often built on shifting sands—self-interest, emotional highs, or cultural expectations—Bonhoeffer’s sermon reminds us that marriage is not sustained by love alone but by God’s design and God’s love. What lessons can we draw from this sermon for today?

, , ,

This Week's Recommendations

, , ,
This Week's Recommendations

  1. If I could change anything about the modern church: I won’t spoil Tim Challies’s recommendation, but it will likely surprise you.

  2. How to make friends in college (or anywhere): Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra explains, “Between 2003 and 2023, in-person socializing among those aged 15 to 24 dropped by more than 35 percent, Thompson reported. Younger millennials and Gen Z are less likely than previous generations were to go out without their parents, go on dates, get their driver’s licenses, try alcohol, and work for pay.”

, ,

Tempted and Able

, ,
Tempted and Able

The first thing Lauren told me after I was baptized, besides, “I'm proud of you,” and, “I love you,” was, “Be prepared.” I thought that odd, considering.  At that time in my walk with Christ, I was no stranger to naïveté and had reassured myself in the quiet place that baptism would scare away all my demons, that I would be made whole by the water grave, never to fall from grace again.  On the contrary, my bride's words bore much truth.  I had not prepared myself in the least.  I did not understand the battle that was being waged over my flesh.

, ,

Does Forgiveness Excuse Evil

, ,
Does Forgiveness Excuse Evil

There is a BIG difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. The Bible has a lot to say about the importance of forgiving others, but how do we do that when someone keeps hurting us? What does the Bible say about justice, sin, evil and how we respond when someone wrongs us? Join host Andrew Marcus as he spends time with pastor and ministry friend John Beeson as he dissects what restoration ought to look like in our relationships, and how to trust God and others in the process.

, , , ,

This Week's Recommendations

, , , ,
This Week's Recommendations

  1. To (almost) die is gain: Heidi Kellogg with a moving reflection, “To die would have been gain for me, but to live is Christ, and that means serving my family just as Christ came not to be served but to serve (Mark 10:45).

  2. Jesus did condemn homosexuality: Alan Schlemon explains, “Jesus doesn’t reserve his judgment for only those who engage in homosexual sex. He also condemns false teachers who mislead people into practicing homosexuality.”

, ,

The Danger of Religion

, ,
The Danger of Religion

Many today take pot shots at religion. Everyone seems happy to claim spirituality, with few willing to claim religion. “I’m spiritual but not religious,” is the only “denomination” that appears to be in favor. Even Christians often insist that Jesus is about a relationship, not a religion.

Religion isn’t all bad. Our declaration that we are “spiritual but not religious” means that we pave our own experience with God. Can that be done? Do we, the creature, get to dictate to the Creator the structure of our relationship? We are foolish if we think that we can make our own way to God.

, , ,

What If Jesus Could Coach You on Your Prayer Life?

, , ,
What If Jesus Could Coach You on Your Prayer Life?

I hate to admit it, but I’ve been around people whose prayers annoy me. Have you ever had that experience? Perhaps their prayers seem flippant, or they have verbal tics, or they don’t leave space for anyone else, or their language turns stilted when they start to pray. Have you ever wondered if your prayers annoy God?  Believe it or not, Jesus seems to indicate that is the case. Twice in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus warns us how not to pray

, , , ,

This Week's Recommendations

, , , ,
This Week's Recommendations

  1. Who are the sons of God in Genesis 6? William Cook navigates one of the most difficult passages in scripture, “The crucial question concerns whether the phrase refers to human beings or to spiritual beings (demons).”

  2. iPhones, idolatry, and evil spirits: Casey McCall sees echoes of the golden calf in our cell phones today, “It’s just metal and wires and plastic, the fruit of human ingenuity. The products of Silicon Valley seem to be at the opposite end of the supernatural spectrum compared to golden calves and pagan temples created specifically for worship. And yet, nearly half of American teenagers say they’re online “almost constantly.”

Sign up to get The Bee Hive delivered to your inbox and receive a free 50 Books That Changed My Life (and Might Change Yours, Too) download!