Christian Living, Generosity, Gratitude, Hospitality, Marriage, Recommendations, Wisdom
John Beeson
The Best of the Bee Hive Honeycomb in 2024

Our is an Esau world. We exchange our birthright for a pot of stew, God’s Word for an endorphin hit, the eternal for the ephemeral.

My hope is that by stewarding my ministry of Words, I can help push back against that tide just a little bit. I blog first to pastor my dear congregation New Life Bible Fellowship through the ministry of the written word. My hope is that the three additional touchpoints during the week allow those God has entrusted to me as an under-shepherd to grow in their love for God, their wisdom, and to foster unity. I’m grateful for the many who read…

The Best of the Bee Hive Honeycomb in 2024
Recommendations, Spiritual Growth, Reading
John Beeson
Books I Read in 2024 (and some you might want ...

Aren’t books the best? Open a cover and adventurer leads you into a new world, or a wise guide directs you further down the path of truth. I love reading books of all sorts.

 

I read 117 books this year: down just a bit from 2023 (not surprising since I went on sabbatical in the summer of 2023). I actually plan on trying to intentionally read fewer books in the coming year. I have been trying to grow in my spiritual disciplines of silence, solitude, and meditation. Input comes naturally to me. I need to grow in my ability to slow down and listen to God. And that has come at the cost of some of my reading time.

Books I Read in 2024 (and some you might want to read in 2025)
Advent, Christmas, Theology
John Beeson
Glory to God in the Lowest!

Last week on The World and Everything in It George Grant considered “The Wisdom of paradox.” He concludes his reflection,  that Christmas is “the greatest and most remarkable paradox of all is revealed: He who was infinite, was yet an infant; He who was eternal, was yet born of a woman; He who was almighty, was yet nursing at His mother’s breast; He who was upholding the universe, was yet carried in His mother’s arms. Thus, Chesterton exclaimed, ‘Outrushing the depth of the fall of man is the height of the fall of God. Glory to God in the Lowest.’”

“Glory to God in the lowest.” What a mind-bending truth.

Glory to God in the Lowest!
Christmas, Theology, Advent, Church, Hospitality
John Beeson
The Faithfulness of God of the Manger

Recently we had someone over and as the night came to a close Angel warmly offered, “Let’s do this again soon!” I wilted as I processed just how many things were on our calendar in the coming month. Just like Angel did, I wanted to be with them again and soon, but her invitation made me flinch.

 

My wife Angel and I are very different people. Angel brings light and life everywhere. People are drawn to her, and she is drawn to people. One of the many things I love about Angel is how she gets caught up in a moment with people. In that space, it’s not unusual that she shares hopes with those we are with of spending more time together. And she means it: there is no doubt of her genuineness.

The Faithfulness of God of the Manger
Advent, Christmas, Theology
John Beeson
A Humble God?

“I don’t compare myself with anybody, but nobody is better.” Michael Jordan

“They say the sky’s the limit, but I think my potential is beyond it.” Jay-Z

“I won’t be happy until I’m as famous as God” Madonna

“I won’t be a rock star. I will be a legend.” Freddie Mercury

“We’re more popular than Jesus now.” John Lennon

We tend to expect that greatest among us are also some of the most arrogant. And why wouldn’t they be? For many who make it to the top of their field, we can see how that arrogance can be a driving force for their greatness.

A Humble God?

anxiety

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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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Why Are We All So Anxious?

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Why Are We All So Anxious?

Gallup recently reported that, “The percentage of U.S. adults who report having been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lifetime has reached 29.0%, nearly 10 percentage points higher than in 2015. The percentage of Americans who currently have or are being treated for depression has also increased, to 17.8%, up about seven points over the same period. Both rates are the highest recorded by Gallup since it began measuring depression using the current form of data collection in 2015.”

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Exchanging Intrusive Thoughts for God-talk

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Exchanging Intrusive Thoughts for God-talk

Intrusive thoughts are unwelcome and hard to control. I can remember having intrusive thoughts from the time I was a child. When we drove, I often felt the compulsion to press one foot down on the floor between the telephone poles (and yes, I also hopped over the cracks in the sidewalk). At other times, when walking alone, I remember the persistent thought, “He’s watching you.” I would search the bushes and trees for the one my mind told me was watching me.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Don’t think about elephants: Simon van Bruchem begins, “How good are you at resisting the anxious thoughts that enter your mind? Most of us can find all kinds of things to worry about. It might be our family members, our sin, our finances, any number of things. And this general underlying anxiety is fed when we scroll through the news or social media. What can we do about these things that are making us unhappy, especially when we know that this kind of anxious thinking doesn’t accomplish anything?”

  2. The sermon on the mount is not an impossible standard to make us feel bad: Kevin DeYoung cautions us, “Too many Christians instinctively set aside the commands of Scripture as utterly impossible to obey on any level. The danger with this mindset is not only that we might be disheartened when we shouldn’t be, but that we might not be warned when we should be. Once we convince ourselves that failure is the norm…we won’t take seriously the many warnings given to us in Scripture that people unchanged by the gospel prove themselves to never really have been saved by the gospel.”

  3. The utter folly of the cross: Jeremy Treat helps us look at the cross with fresh eyes, “When the Bible talks about crucifixion, however, it emphasizes not physical pain but rather social shame. Reserved for the scum of society (rebels, slaves, and outcasts), crucifixion was a public spectacle meant to humiliate and dehumanize the victim.”

  4. The astounding diversity of ocean life: Laurent Ballesta’s magnificent photography is on display here.

  5. Wings of wonder: Fun video about “nature’s helicopters.”

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Knowing the Future Doesn’t Cure Anxiety: Jen Wilkin’s post is loaded with wisdom, “We reason that if we knew what tomorrow would bring, we would use that information wisely to make good choices. But the story of Peter’s denial warns us otherwise. Jesus tells him explicitly how anxiety will cause him to sin in his immediate future. He does not alter his course. Peter’s knowledge of the future serves not to correct him but to condemn him. Foreknowledge yielded neither repentance nor humility in Peter.”

  2. Three Questions to Make Sense of Anxiety: In a similar vein, Joe Hussung notes that, “Our intuition is to say that anxiety is all about what we fear, but in reality, it is deeper than that. Anxiety is actually about what we love.”

  3. What Jesus Saw When He Looked at Peter After the Rooster Crowed: Erik Raymond with another related post, encourages us, “How do you think Jesus looked at Peter? Was Jesus surprised? Frustrated? Ashamed? If you are a Christian, then your understanding of how Jesus looked at Peter is foundational to your perception of how he looks at you when you sin.”

  4. Gen Z Couples are Shacking Up at Record Rates: Unsurprising report from Bloomberg, that 11% of those aged 18-24 are living with romantic partner. The 3.2 million cohabitating are 650,000 more than the same age group pre-pandemic.

  5. America the Single: Again, unfortunately unsurprising. Erica Pandey explains, “Over the last 50 years, the marriage rate in the U.S. has dropped by nearly 60%.”

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Fear and Tremble

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Fear and Tremble

Recently there was a tragic shooting at the University of Arizona. It impacted several close to me, including my mom, who knew the man killed in the tragedy. Hurricanes, opioids, cancer, car wrecks, and even the threat of war lurk and stir up anxiety and fear. Who wants more fear in their life?

A 2021 study found that Americans most want to avoid fear in their lives and most desire security and safety. On the flip side, Halloween is right around the corner: a holiday where Americans trivialize fear. Perhaps we think that we can lessen our anxieties if we make light of them.

Michael Reeves suggests that one type of fear can oust every other fear: the fear of God. To fear God is to experience true peace.

Michael Reeves is one of my favorite living Christian authors. He tackles profound theological topics with clarity and depth. In Rejoice and Tremble, Reeves argues for us to recover fear as a foundational posture in our relationship with God.

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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.

This Week's Recommendations

This Week's Recommendations

1. Church Membership Falls Below 50% for the First Time: The latest Gallup poll reveals that only 47% of Americans report being part of a church, synagogue, or mosque. That number was at 70% in 1999. Meanwhile, the number of Americans who express no religious affiliation is on the rise, “Over the past two decades, the percentage of Americans who do not identify with any religion has grown from 8% in 1998-2000 to 13% in 2008-2010 and 21% over the past three years.”

2. Why You Can’t Have Your Cake and Eat it in the Church: Stephen Kneale explains how a recent dust up at Buckingham Palace relates to the Christian life.

3. How the Bible Defines Anxiety: We are an anxious creatures. The Bible offers wisdom and hope for our anxiety. Cory Brock explains. “Anxiety is not mere concern. It is not the type of fear that helps us survive in a dangerous situation. It is not concern for the moment that we put our sixteen-year-old behind the wheel for the first time or for our sick child’s health. Rather, it is an ongoing, fearful restlessness wherein we imagine hypothetical circumstances of loss.”

4. No Bitter Root: Glenna Marshall’s article on bitterness made me pause to consider my own heart and the ways bitterness has grown up unawares. She reminds us that “bitterness doesn’t need my attention to grow.” You’ll appreciate her illuminating analogy.

5. I Met Messiah: A powerful (and funny) testimony of how Andrew Klavan met Jesus.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1. How My Mind Changed About End-of-Life Care: Justin Taylor explains well the challenge of considering how to make end-of-life decisions. He shares that, “Many Christians—myself included—have assumed that being pro-life means extending life as long as possible. If, for example, a feeding tube can provide the food and water, or a ventilator can pump oxygen, then we should always use all the means at our disposal to preserve a human life.”

2. No Condemnation, but What About Consequences? Courtney Reissig reflects on her cervical cancer and concludes, “Sin is serious. Sin has consequences, sometimes deadly ones. But sin has a remedy. In him, it is finished. Shame has no place. There is no condemnation for those who trust in Christ—not now, not ever.”

3. How to Know You’ve Become a Pharisee: Randy Alcorn offers this parable. He begins, “Imagine yourself moving into a house with a huge picture window overlooking a grand view across a wide expanse of water enclosed by a range of snow-capped mountains.”

4. Save Me From Myself: My friend Anne Imboden transparently shares about her struggle with social anxiety, the fall-out of that struggle, and God’s transformative work in her heart. She begins, “There’s a big part of my story most people don’t know about. I don’t share it very often and when I do, the response is usually one of surprise. No, I’m not talking about my ten years of playing softball. Though really, why is everyone so dumbfounded that I have a history of athleticism? (Actually, don’t answer that.) I’m talking about depression and social anxiety; demons I faced for years in my early adulthood. “But you’re such an extrovert!” “I’d never have known! You’re so comfortable in a crowd!” “Really? You’re always so confident around people!” These things are all true, though my extroverted tendencies have been dialed back considerably since my recovery.”

5. Ouch!: If you like physical comedy, enjoy this 60 seconds of ridiculousness.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1.       3 Lies Our Life Online Tells Us: Samuel James digs beneath the surface to three lies that a life of constant connectivity speaks to us. The third is "I have to say something!" James explains, " Because digital space is without any embodied presence, people tend to be reduced to their input — who they are is what they post. This means that a major liturgy of online culture is that silence is a problem."

2.       52 Things I Learned in 2019: This is a cool list by Tom Whitwell. There are lots of fun gems like this one, "Harbinger customers are customers who buy products that tend to fail. They group together, forming harbinger zip codes. If households in those zip codes buy a product, it is likely to fail. If they back a political candidate, they are likely to lose the election."

3.       How Do You Face Crippling Anxiety? My friend Brie Wetherbee with five pieces of practical and hope-filled advice.

4.       Is God Guilty of Genocide? What do we with the conquest narratives in the Old Testament? Michael Kruger begins, "When the Israelites entered the land of Canaan, was it not God who commanded them to wipe out all the indigenous people (Deut. 20:17)? Is God not guilty of genocide? It makes me think of the famous bumper-sticker quote, 'The only difference between God and Adolf Hitler is that God is more proficient at genocide.'"

5.       The Size of Space: You won't want to miss this awesome interactive site. Our Creator is inconceivable!

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