Gratitude, Prayer, Spiritual Growth, Suffering
John Beeson
Thankful in 2024

Have you had hard 2024? Are you looking forward to the page turning to a new year? I think of dear people in our family at New Life who have lost loved ones, who are battling cancer, mental illness, whose marriages ended, or who have lost jobs. I’m so sorry if 2024 was a hard year for you.

May I invite James to one of the open seats at your Thanksgiving table? Let me warn you, though, James is the uncle who shoots straight. You might not like what he has to say. But you know he always speaks truthfully and with a heart of love for you.

Thankful in 2024
Christian Living, Culture, Politics, Spiritual Growth
John Beeson
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.

Vulgar Authenticity
Christian Living, Biblical Studies, Religion, Spiritual Growth, Theology
John Beeson
The Faith of Unbelief

Bart Ehrman has perhaps done more to undermine the credibility of the Bible than anyone else in my lifetime. But his story didn’t begin that way. Ehrman is a New Testament scholar and skeptic. Ehrman grew up in a Christian home, attended a conservative Bible school, and then found his way to a liberal seminary where his faith in the God of the Bible unraveled. That seminary happens to be the seminary I would attend a couple of decades later.

For Ehrman, everywhere he looks he sees holes in the biblical story. The inconsistencies that he sees have led him to determine that he cannot trust in the God of the Bible.

The Faith of Unbelief
Christian Living, Culture, Spiritual Growth
John Beeson
Don't Numb Your Feelings

“Don’t listen to your feelings; remember what Jesus did for you!”

“Don’t be guided by your feelings; listen to what God commands you to do!”

In just the past week, I heard both of these warnings. Two very different Christian speakers urged their audiences to shut down their feelings. These admonitions resonate. They contain truth. It is correct that our feelings don’t override truth, nor do our emotions negate what God has done. Neither do our feelings give us an out for what God commands us to do.

Don't Numb Your Feelings
History, Spiritual Growth, Suffering, Wisdom
John Beeson
Lord, Reach Your Justice Down

I had outsized emotions as a child. Games, especially, would get the best of me, whether cards or boardgames or sports. In response to a stroke of bad luck, a hot surge of anger would erupt, followed quickly by tears and then embarrassment.

Emotions are God’s gift to us in many ways. They are one of his kind ways of showing us where our deep attachments lie.

Our son started his freshman year at the University of Arizona this fall. It’s been a great experience for him, but not without its adjustments. The climate of a secular school is quite different than the Christian school he graduated from

Lord, Reach Your Justice Down

Rodney Stark

Run Toward the Fire: a Response to COVID-19

Run Toward the Fire: a Response to COVID-19

How do you quantify fear? How do you measure anxiety?

None of us knows what lies ahead of us with the COVID-19 (coronavirus) situation. When scientists’ predictions range from tens of thousands to 10 million deaths worldwide,[i] you realize that it is impossible to gauge what the impact will be.

That uncertainty is fuel for fear; it fans the anxieties of our hearts.

Fear Not

But, dear Christian, we are not called to fear. We are not called to anxiety.

“[W]hich of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” Jesus asks in Matthew 6:27. We know Jesus is right, but how do we stop the cycle of anxiety in our hearts?

John reminds us that “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). Where do we find the answer to anxiety? In love. God’s love, to be specific.

“Fear not,” God says to us, “for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God” (Isaiah 41:10). God doesn’t promise us that our circumstances will change. He promises himself. In the midst of crises he’s still God and he’s still with us. What more could we ask for? In Hebrews we are reminded again of this beautiful promise, “[W]e can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6).

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