John Beeson

January 18, 2018

Church, Culture, Recommendations, Christian Living

This Week's Recommendations

John Beeson

January 18, 2018

Church, Culture, Recommendations, Christian Living

1. Tell Me Something About Generation Z: Mark Moring helps give us into a generation who is already 3-21 years old and already the largest generation by population in the US. Of particular interest to Christians are the final two characteristics, "9. They’re post-Christian. Almost a quarter (23 percent) of America’s adults—and a third of millennials—are “nones,” claiming no religious identity at all, according to Pew Research. Many Z’s are growing up in homes where there’s no religion whatsoever, and they may have no experience of religion. 'Gen Z is very secularized,' says Rick Eubanks... "10. They’re open to faith. Although only 4 in 10 attend religious services weekly, 78 percent of older Gen Z’s say they believe in God, according to a survey by Northeastern University...'They’re hungry for spiritual things,” says Eubanks. “They’re seeking something outside of themselves, which can be a good thing.'"

2. God is With You in Your Panic Attack: Colleen Chao with an excellent article that perfectly blends her experience, gospel truth, and practical advice: "And I’ve learned that God made us holistic creatures, with both body and soul. Imagine sharing the gospel with a starving person without first meeting their physical needs. It would be unkind and ineffectual, to say the least. In a similar way, if you’re in the midst of panic and I tell you, “Don’t be anxious for anything” before I address your physical symptoms, I ultimately fail to care for you. First we have to deal with the panic, and then your heart will be calm enough to hear life-giving truth. Perhaps the most beautiful thing I’ve learned is that God is with me, even in the most terrifying moments of anxiety. He is here. He has everything I need for this.

3. God is Not Ashamed of You: Dan DeWitt tell us why the book of Hebrews assures us this is true, "You see, God’s not disgusted with you. He doesn’t wince when you pray. He doesn’t blush when you admit to someone who asks if you believe in him. He’s unashamed of you. He loves you. He’s loved you before he created the world. So, this week when your heart condemns you, remember that God is greater than your heart (1 John 3:20)... When you stand before God one day you will not stand in shame. You will stand clothed in the righteousness of Christ."

4. Do Christians Have to Care About Everything? Aaron Earls offers sober wisdom in the midst of the needs all around us calling for our attention, "Just as you or I can’t fulfill the Great Commission individually, why would we believe we could do so with the Great Commandment? We love our neighbor as ourselves, but not everyone is your neighbor. Anyone could be your neighbor at any time, but not everyone is at every moment of every day. That’s why God chose to use the Church, not simply individuals, to accomplish His purposes. He has placed believers in a body with other believers to achieve more than we could on our own. He will use my gifts and your gifts to accomplish the goals He has given all of us."

5. Is God Really Talking to You? Mike Leake shares an important truth about the difference between your conscience and God’s voice, “I was with a guy who told me that as he was praying “God told him” that he was being inconsistent in a particular behavior. As he played out the conversation with “God” it was interesting how much the Lord sounded like the man who was telling me the story. Your conscience is “your consciousness of what you believe is right and wrong.” (Naselli, 41) It is that internal voice that you hear that tells you whether things are right or wrong. But here is the problem with equating the voice of your conscience to the voice of God. Your conscience can be wrong. In fact it can be seared (1 Timothy 4:2 ) and guilty (Hebrews 10:22 ). Your conscience can make you think that right is wrong and that wrong is right.”

John Beeson

January 11, 2018

Recommendations, Culture, Marriage, Church

This Week's Recommendations

John Beeson

January 11, 2018

Recommendations, Culture, Marriage, Church

1. The Attack of Social Media on Your Free Will: James Williams, the winner of Google's highest honor on why the impact of social media is particularly insidious, " I don’t think personal responsibility is unimportant. I think it’s untenable as a solution to this problem. Even people who write about these issues day to day, even me—and I worked at Google for 10 years—need to remember the sheer volume and scale of resources that are going into getting us to look at one thing over another, click on one thing over another. This industry employs some of the smartest people, thousands of Ph.D. designers, statisticians, engineers. They go to work every day to get us to do this one thing, to undermine our willpower. It’s not realistic to say you need to have more willpower. That’s the very thing being undermined!"

2. What if We Took Our Commitment to the Church Seriously: Brett McCracken with a strong, but needed rebuke: "three-in-ten say the main reason they aren’t married is that they 'have not found someone who has what they are looking for in a spouse.' This desire for perfect compatibility is a problem. And that makes sense for a generation that’s grown up in a consumerist society where there are limitless options of brands and apps and genres and communities that can be tailored and curated in a perfect-for-me sort of way. We approach the church with the same mentality."

3. A Father's Farewell Letter: Raymond Ortlund Jr. shares his father's beautiful farewell letter that he penned to his family before he died, "I urge you to remain true to your Savior. I have no doubt that you will. Love each other deeply in your marriages. Keep your family ties strong. Lay up treasure in heaven, because the stuff of earth is empty. Bank accounts, houses and furniture mean nothing to me now. Actually they never did. Beware of sin, and confess it as soon as you discover it in your life. And let the Spirit’s gift of joy color all your life. As you mature, remain a happy person in Christ. Get even sweeter as you get older. Sour old people are a pain."

4. 7 Things for Husbands and 7 Things for Wives to Remember About Sex: A snippet of Bob Lepine's wisdom for husbands: " Your wife needs a safe and secure relationship. In order for her to engage in sex with heart and mind and body, she needs to know that you will be there for her, that you are committed to her, and that she is your one and only." And for wives: " Sex is God’s idea. He created it and gave it as a good gift to husbands and wives in marriage. It is a key part of His plan for how we become one in marriage."

5. Why Kellen Erskine is Disappointed with High School Mascots: I love Erskine’s dry humor, “The Syrup Makers? Of course, I love the syrup from Georgia.”

John Beeson

January 9, 2018

Christian Living, Vocation, Culture, Consumerism, Leadership

Mark Zuckerberg, Meet Jethro

John Beeson

January 9, 2018

Christian Living, Vocation, Culture, Consumerism, Leadership

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook, recently claimed that as church attendance declines, Facebook will become the new church for people, offering a sense of community and meaning.[i] But Facebook can’t be the church, and not just because it isn’t built on a true foundation of hope in the good news of Jesus Christ. But it also can’t be the church because it can’t effectively form a community of a people on mission, serving God and one another together for God’s transformative purpose. In other words, Facebook neither has the content nor the form that can replace the church.

My hunch is that most Christians get the content part of what makes Zuckerberg’s claim faulty. We get that we need the gospel for the church. But I think that fewer might understand the gap on the form front. In other words, what am I really missing out on if I listen to worship music throughout the week, watch clips of my favorite preachers on YouTube and then share about my faith on social media?

One thing you’re missing out on is God’s purpose for you in serving a gathered community, the church.

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is the unlikely encounter between Moses and his father-in-law, Jethro, in Exodus 18.

John Beeson

January 4, 2018

Recommendations, Evangelism, Parenting, Leadership, Culture

This Week's Recommendations

John Beeson

January 4, 2018

Recommendations, Evangelism, Parenting, Leadership, Culture

1. Always Looking, Never Wanting to Find: Mark Loughridge considers a reality for us in our cultural moment, "It’s cool to search for God, but uncool to find him. People talk about wanting to find spiritual reality and deeper meaning, about wanting to get in touch with God. The idea of looking for him sounds good—the search, the journey—but the reality of actually finding him is too much."

2. Ordinary Beauty: Melissa Edgington shares an ordinary story of God's grace, "At the cash register stood a young girl with a nose ring. Her hair was pulled back, but long blonde ringlets framed her face. There is no telling how many hours she had been on her feet in that store, but still she smiled and asked how my night was going. And then, while I fished in my gigantic black hole of a purse for my wallet, she told me that I look pretty tonight. Just like that. She handed me that grace. That generous gift to a tired mama who almost certainly doesn’t look pretty tonight. And I was surprised by how shocked I was."

3. Accept Your Leadership: Tim Challies with a call to men, "Your family needs to be led. Your wife and children need you to be the leader God calls you to be. He calls you to lead in love, to study the life and character of Jesus Christ, and to imitate him. Do that and God will be pleased. Do that and your family will be blessed. Run to win by accepting and embracing your leadership."

4. When Should a Church Address a Current Event: In light of the recent outbreak of racist events, Trevin Wax processes whether or not a church ought to publicly address a given issue. He begins by sharing the online response from a certain quarter regarding the Charlottesville protest, "On social media, multiple people counseled churches on how to respond the next morning. Some called for condemning white supremacy and Neo-Nazis by name. Others offered prayer for pastors who were revising their sermons or penning statements to read before the church. This sentiment popped up a few times: If your church doesn't address this tomorrow, find another congregation. The social media fever implied that failing to speak on the issue indicated you were taking the side of white supremacists."

5. Is that Hate Speech? I encourage you to take this New York Times baffling quiz on what and what does not qualify as hate speech on Facebook.

John Beeson

January 2, 2018

Christian Living, Church, Culture, Theology

The Promise 80% of Christians Miss Out On

John Beeson

January 2, 2018

Christian Living, Church, Culture, Theology

The Promise 80% of Christians Miss Out On

600 years ago a church service looked far different than it does today.

The Medieval mass truly was a performance. The priest was turned away from the congregation for most of the congregation and spoke (by some reports mumbled is a more appropriate description) the service in Latin, a language the commoners didn’t speak and often the priests themselves didn’t speak.[i] The congregants observed the mass in silence. There was no participation.

600 years later much has changed. And yet much remains the same.

In the American evangelical church, our liturgy looks about as different from the liturgy of the church of the Middle Ages as you could imagine (and yes, while we don’t have a formalized liturgy, we share a collective informal liturgy – you can go to just about any evangelical church in America this weekend and expect a similar service). But church, as much as ever, is an experience those who attend come to watch. And like the church in the Middle Ages, we also are struggling with attendance, with a faithful church goer now coming to service a mere twice a month.[ii]

John Beeson

December 7, 2017

Recommendations, Marriage, Parenting, Evangelism, Culture, Christian Living

This Week's Recommendations

John Beeson

December 7, 2017

Recommendations, Marriage, Parenting, Evangelism, Culture, Christian Living

1. Males and Females in the Workplace: Interesting in-depth study on the shifting face of the workplace over the past 65 years. Really interesting and interactive infographics.

2. Why doesn't God Just Talk to Me? Dan Dewitt responds to this question, "So, here’s a few reasons why it’s better for you that God has chosen to speak to you through his Word rather than waking you up in the middle of the night with an audible, 'Hey you! Get out of bed and listen up!'"

3. What's the Purpose of Children? Tim Challies's consideration of this simple question reveals how many significant cultural barriers there are, "The pursuit of dreams and the fulfillment of personal potential has become our highest priority. A recent Forbes article tells that in 2015, Millennials spent nearly twice as much on self-improvement than Boomers, even though their income is only half as much. This individualistic culture has a profound effect on our understanding of children. When self is at the center, children are regarded as yet another means of self-realization—one that can be pursued or rejected according to personal preference. Those who choose to have children do so only when it is convenient; when they are in a stable place in life, relationship, and career; and when the burden of having them will be as small as possible. Little wonder, then, that the percentage of women between 40 and 44 who have never had children doubled between 1976 and 2006. Children have become an optional accessory to a well-rounded, successful life. Many people essentially believe that the purpose of children is to add value to the lives of their parents."

4. Why Even a Happy Marriage Won't Prevent An Affair: Russel Moore adeptly navigates the findings of a secular counselor and digs for a deeper Christian explanation, " In the October issue of The Atlantic, Esther Perel looks back on the scope of her counseling encounters with marriages in crisis over infidelity and notes how rarely she sees adulterous people who cheat out of a desire to flee a bad relationship. Often, she writes, it’s just the opposite. She encounters people who want to keep their marriage, the way that it is, and who don’t actually want to leave it for the other relationship."

5. How Sharing the Gospel in the Secular Age is Different: Tim Keller and Russell Moore reflect on the unique challenges of our ages in this 8 minute video.

John Beeson

November 30, 2017

Parenting, Recommendations, Culture, Nature, Christian Living

This Week's Recommendations

John Beeson

November 30, 2017

Parenting, Recommendations, Culture, Nature, Christian Living

1. Driverless Dilemma: The bearing down of driverless cars on us means that soon our transportation will have to make moral calculations. How should those calculations be made? This Radio Lab episodes explores these questions at the intersection of ethics and technology.

2. Letter to a Church Member (and Myself): Melissa Edgington with a post that is jam-packed full of truth, " Your church is here, not to give you a good self-image, but to give you a true self-image. One that stands you up next to the holy God of the universe and shows you just how far you fall short. It is meant to give you a realistic understanding of how unremarkable you really are so that you can look to Jesus and you can look to the cross and you can see your salvation unfold before your very eyes, so that you realize how unworthy you are of God’s love. So you can grasp how great this love is that would reach out to you. So that you fall down in worship just thinking about it."

3. Statistics on Girls' Self Esteem: Some of the sobering statistics: 98% of girls feel there is "an immense pressure from external sources to look a certain way." 53% of American girls age 13 are "unhappy with their bodies." 78% of American girls age 17 are "unhappy with their bodies."

4. You Are Not Suffering Alone: Adrian Warnock presses the truth of 1 Peter simply into the heart of the one suffering in this two part post, "Knowing that you are part of a suffering community can be encouraging. But what is more encouraging still is knowing that you are still a child of God, and that he has made certain promises to you" (part I). And, in part II " When God restores a broken person, they are still marked in some way by that suffering. Those who have truly wrestled with God through pain, walk like Jacob with a limp. He comforts us so we can comfort others. Don’t be afraid to let those you are trying to help see a glimpse of the pain that you have been through.

5. Master Camouflager: Watch as this Cuttlefish pretends to be a hermit crab. Wild.

John Beeson

November 28, 2017

Christian Living, Biblical Studies, Consumerism, Gratitude, Culture, Spiritual Growth

Keep Giving Thanks

John Beeson

November 28, 2017

Christian Living, Biblical Studies, Consumerism, Gratitude, Culture, Spiritual Growth

Before Thanksgiving, my aunt’s rotary club hosted a speaker from the University of Arizona Center on Conflict Resolution who presented tips on how to navigate a Thanksgiving conversation that avoids conflict. What a low bar we’ve set for ourselves: our definition of success is simply escaping a holiday gathering without offending someone. Thanksgiving ought to come not from that superficial posture, but from a heart that is engaged and transparent.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Not a “glad-I-survived-that” kind of Thanksgiving, but one that truly allowed you to stop and cultivate gratitude in your heart.

Before we move on to Christmas shopping and parties, I want us to stop and pause just a bit longer and consider how we can nurture a heart of thankfulness.

John Beeson

November 21, 2017

Gratitude, Christian Living, Biblical Studies, Culture

The Danger of Ingratitude

John Beeson

November 21, 2017

Gratitude, Christian Living, Biblical Studies, Culture

There is a deadly poison that contaminates the air we breathe. It’s a poison that, if we are aware of it at all, seems innocuous to us both because everyone else is breathing it in, and as far as we’re aware of it, others are breathing more of it in than us.

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.

John Beeson

November 9, 2017

Recommendations, Christian Living, Culture, Politics

This Week's Recommendations

John Beeson

November 9, 2017

Recommendations, Christian Living, Culture, Politics

1. How the World's Most Recognized Atheist Got Booted Out of the World's Most Liberal College: The reasons for Dawkins's "deplatforming" reveal cracks in secular liberalism: "Ultimately Dawkins was deluded about the fact that you cannot remove the framework of the Christian gospel from the culture without removing the freedoms it afforded him. And now all he can do is splutter ineffectually on the sidelines. And Berkeley? Their need to protect Islam is merely the self-righteous self-preening of elite liberals who are confident they stand above all religions and therefore are the arbiters of which ones should be afforded their favour and protection at any one time."

2. The Key Pursuit of a Young Life: Tim Challies on the importance of our early life and how differently God planned his Son's life than we would have: "But it fell to God—not you or me—to set the course for his life, and God planned it very differently. Jesus lived for around 33 years, but his entire public ministry fit into just the final three. He spent 90 percent of his life in obscurity and only 10 percent in the public eye. For every one year that was recorded, there were 10 that were not. God arranged the itinerary, and he chose to have Jesus spend 30 years in quiet preparation for his three years of public activity."

3. US Not Increasing Refugee Resettlement In Step With Worldwide Demand: Sarah Eekhoff Lystra reports, " Since 1980, more than 3 million of the world’s refugees have settled in America, according to a new study released today by the Pew Research Center. That’s more than any other country in the world, in terms of resettlement.... President Donald Trump cut the 2017 intake from Obama’s planned 100,000 to 50,000... The Trump administration has capped refugees for fiscal year 2018 at 45,000—the lowest since presidents were given the power to set limits back in 1980..."

4. You Were Created for More Than Motherhood: Melissa Edgington is one of my favorite bloggers and this is my favorite post she's ever written. Fathers, you may think this one isn't for you, but grab a box of Kleenex, click, and read: " It doesn’t mean that our hearts won’t still creak and crack and melt just a little when we remember what we once had. It doesn’t mean that what we’re doing here, in the wilds of motherhood, doesn’t have eternal significance. But, God’s purposes are big. Much bigger than we can imagine. The purpose of our lives is to glorify Him in all that we do, whether we are mothers or not. Whether we are in the thick of chasing toddlers everywhere or simply remembering those days, a little misty-eyed. God’s purposes don’t have dates of expiration. They don’t apply to only one section of our lives. And they certainly aren’t wrapped up solely in the too-short phases of mothering children."

5. George W. Bush’s Timely Speech: Our former President delivered a powerful speech recently. The entire speech is worth reading (or watching). Among its powerful moments was this: “We have seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty. At times, it can seem like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together. Argument turns too easily into animosity. Disagreement escalates into dehumanization. Too often, we judge other groups by their worst examples while judging ourselves by our best intentions – forgetting the image of God we should see in each other. We’ve seen nationalism distorted into nativism – forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America. We see a fading confidence in the value of free markets and international trade – forgetting that conflict, instability, and poverty follow in the wake of protectionism.”

6. 30 Days at Sea Timelapse Video: From New York to Hong Kong, with incredible views of thunderstorms and ports in between.