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?
Christmas, Forgiveness, Theology
John Beeson
The Just and the Justifier

God became flesh.

Let that sink in. Christianity asserts that God—sovereign, immutable, omnipotent, other—the eternal God who has no beginning and end—became a human being.

 Because many of us have had exposure to Christianity from our early years, it is easy to miss how massive the theological implications of the incarnation are. The incarnation lays the groundwork for a God who chooses to participate in his creation. The incarnation denies the existence of an abstract and distant God, unmuddied by his handiwork.

The Just and the Justifier
Advent, Christmas, Theology
John Beeson
The Theology of the Manger

“God did not, as the Bible says, create man in his own image; on the contrary, man created God in his own image.” Ludwig Feuerbach dropped this theological bombshell three years before Friedrich Nietzsche’s birth. Feuerbach, a name forgotten by most, but who influenced Nietzsche, wrote these words in his book, The Essence of Christianity (1841). He argued that human beings project their own attributes and desires onto an imagined deity, creating God in their own image. This for Feuerbach, is the essence of Christianity (and indeed all religions), the deification of our human ideals. “What man wishes to be, he makes his God… God is the outward projection of a man’s inward nature.”

The Theology of the Manger

Nature

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This Week’s Recommendations

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This Week’s Recommendations

  1. When Jesus Acted Out a Parable to Explain the Gospel: Sinclair Ferguson explains how significant Jesus’ act in the Upper Room was. His chart that lines up the passage with Paul’s interpretation in Philippians in pretty cool. Ferguson says, “Clearly something deeper is going on here than Jesus merely removing dust and dirt. This is a prophetic action—like those performed by Jeremiah and Ezekiel. He is acting out a parable of the gospel, showing them by means of a dramatic sign both who He is and what He has come to do.”

  2. Why Do People Look So Serious in Old Photos? The traditional explanations have been that it is because of the exposure time or poor teeth. Merrill Fabry argues it is a different, cultural reason.

  3. The Cross and Criticism: Alfred Poirier reflects on the danger of pride and yes men in our lives. He says, “In response to my sin, the cross has criticized and judged me more intensely, deeply, pervasively, and truly than anyone else ever could. This knowledge permits us to say to all other criticism of us: ‘This is just a fraction of it.’” And later, “In other words, no one can criticize me more than the cross has. And the most devastating criticism turns out to be the finest mercy.”

  4. The Comfort of Samson: Keith Samson encourages us, “In his infinite wisdom, and in a way that defies human intellect, the Lord sees fit to redeem wretches like you and me. He is pleased to take us from darkness and bring us into the kingdom of his beloved Son. The Omnipotent One overcomes our sinfulness, both past and ongoing odiousness, and uses us for his purposes.”

  5. The 2021 Audobon Photography Awards: It delighted me to see the southwest’s Roadrunner take home top prize. The final shot, with the Eastern Chipmunk looking up at the Red-tailed Hawk while in his grasp is one I won’t quickly forget.

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This Week’s Recommendations

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This Week’s Recommendations

  1. The Depressing End of “Your Truth” Brent McCracken begins, “In her lifetime-achievement-award acceptance speech at the 2018 Golden Globes, Oprah Winfrey said, ‘What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have.’ Your truth. Those two words are so entrenched in our lexicon today that we hardly recognize them for the incoherent nightmare that they are.”

  2. Will I Suffer More If I Serve Jesus? John Piper takes on this challenging question: “Why will God allow us to suffer as Christians if that suffering will harm our faith?” In response, he asks this question, “What if, instead of seeing Christian suffering as something added to our lives because we become Christians, we see our suffering as something that up till now was certain and deserved, but now, by the grace of God, has become suffering that is made to serve our salvation?”

  3. Exploring the Problem of Evil: Rhys Laverty explores the classical conception of the problem of evil: how can there be a God who is perfectly good and all-powerful when evil exists? Laverty explains that our problem is that we are still trying to conceptualize the problem from a human perspective. He says, “The LORD doesn’t simply say “look how much bigger I am!” but “look at how well I run the universe”. This is part of what lies behind the great promise that the Lord works all things together for the good of those who love him (Rom. 8:28).”

  4. The Touch: Tim Challies tells us about the power of the touch of Jesus, “Jesus left no one worse than he had found them. None left his presence without some blessing, some challenge, some enablement or encouragement to live for the good of others and the glory of God. And what a difference it would make in this world if we determined to do the same…”

  5. Aerial Sheep Herding: Mesmerizing. I love watching the behavior of the sheep that break away from the flock.

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This Week’s Recommendations

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This Week’s Recommendations

  1. Why Brutal Honesty Isn’t Honest at All: Justin Hale with an important response to us when we might be tempted to excuse our harsh responses to others, “Being more honest is about being more clear, more specific, more sincere, and more authentic. So, you DON’T have to raise your voice to increase your honesty. You DO need to be more effective at stating the observable facts of the situation and your honest perspective about those facts.”

  2. Why Does Hell Exist? James Williams offers some simple analogies to help get our minds around this challenging doctrine. He concludes, “If there were no hell, there would be no need for salvation. If sin didn’t separate us from a holy God, then we wouldn’t need the gospel. The testimony of Scripture undeniably points us to such realities. We lack the ability to atone for ourselves, thus our need for an external deliverance. But, thanks be to God us gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”

  3. You Will Fail Sometimes. Don’t Quit: Melissa Edgington considers the discouragement of sanctification and the double truth that God will change us, but we will also fail along the way. She encourages us, “You see, there is no moment of arrival. At least, not on this side of Heaven. But on any given day, in any given moment, we can become a little more like Christ. We can become a little more devoted. We can have moments of sincere adoration and awe for who God is. We can grow. And, before we know it, if we establish these patterns of putting another sin to death, of taking one more step toward God instead of away from Him, we’ll wake up one morning and realize that we are a whole lot more like Jesus than we were twenty years ago. Growth is slow. But He is patient.”

  4. There is Power in Counting it All Joy: Paul Tautges begins, “Joy is a state of mind, not merely a feeling. Joy is peaceful confidence in knowing God’s good and perfect will is being carried out as the result of your trials. I know from experience that this can be hard to accept.”

  5. How Turtles Find Their Way Home: How do turtles find their way back to the place of their birth decades later? What an amazing Creator we have.

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This Week’s Recommendations

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This Week’s Recommendations

  1. How Parents Can Help Kids Navigate Transgender Ideology: Maria Baer packs lots of wisdom into this post. She says, “This is a complicated calling for Christian parents. But whatever else we do in response to the normalization of transgender ideology, we can’t not talk about it with our kids. Make no mistake: they are hearing about it—in entertainment, online, at school, and from their friends.”

  2. My 30 Second Sermon as We Prepared for a Crash Landing: Kyle Donn shares his brief, but harrowing story. He begins, “Last Sunday I thought I was going to die. ‘Brace! Brace! Brace!’ The flight attendants prepared us for impact. The pilot of American Airlines Flight 2775—which had just taken off from Charlotte and was heading to Seattle—announced moments earlier that our plane was experiencing engine failure and that we needed to prepare for a crash landing. The attendants ran frantically up and down the cabin, preparing us.”

  3. Does Your Prayer Life Need to Change: Forrest McPhail’s article is loaded with helpful practical tips. He concludes, “Prayerlessness is not an option for one of God’s children. Find a way. Be creative. Worship God by maintaining fellowship with Him in prayer.”

  4. A Hidden Beauty: Chris Thomas invites us to see beauty as God sees it. He begins by considering the beauty of his native Australia, “The stone is clothed in ochre red, a brilliant protest against the azure sky that casts a blanket of suppression over the land and is stitched seamlessly into an unbroken line where the two meet. Below the ancient stone, a throne of fissured rock falls away in fearful wonder to jade depths of tepid water rich with life.”

  5. We Keep Stumbling Forward: How cute is this? And how true is this of our faith?

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1. 4 Traits to Seek in a Spouse: David Qaoud concludes his sound advice with this, “Everyone marries the wrong person. Everyone is wrong because of sin. But a robust view of total depravity, and a firm understanding of providence, doesn’t mean you should have low standards for who you marry.”

2. I Am My Father’s Son: This is a powerful story of hope from Greg Lucas, who had a terrible relationship with his father. He concludes, “Like my dad, and failing fathers everywhere, I rest in the promises of the gospel. The promise of redemption, forgiveness, and grace. And through these promises I can proclaim with confidence and joy, I am my Father’s son.

3. Sometimes I Think I Hear Singing: Andrea Sanborn encourages us to have ears to hear God’s singing… I read this one twice it was so perfect. She says, “We look for the spectacular, for a jolt of awareness. For miracles. But God, who clothed himself in ordinary flesh, also comes on ordinary days, in just a subtle stirring in the soul; a hint of heaven. Can you sense it?”

4. River Runner: How cool is this tool? Let a raindrop fall anywhere you want in the United States and see where it ends up.

5. America’s Racial History and Christians: In this video, Justin Giboney with a thoughtful response to an important issues for all American Christians. He argues that, to speak faithfully and biblically, “We must not only confront the lies that offend us, but also the lies that serve us.”

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1. The Solution to America’s Theological Salad Bar: Paul Peterson deconstructs the 2020 State of Theology Findings that leave any astute reader scratching their head. How is it the case that 72% of Americans agree that “There is one true God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.” And yet, “52% of Americans claim, ‘Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God.” The results are baffling. Peterson tries to make sense of the mess. He explains that, “It helps to know what most Americans believe, but even more so, we must grasp how Americans believe, if we might engage them with the truth. Those cultural Christians who attend church on Christmas and Easter can select orthodox-looking statements about God on a survey. Still, their approach to knowledge prepares them to depart from Christian teaching further down the salad bar line. A culture that ingests “Be yourself” will also absorb “Believe yourself.””

2. How Much Money is Enough? (And Other Wisdom from Proverbs): We just finished a series on the book of Proverbs. There are some excellent little gems Geiger has in here we didn’t even get to!

3. The Wait of All Waits: Brittany Lee Allen reflects on waiting and then asks these convicting questions, “All of our waiting points to the wait of all waits. Jesus is coming back. We will see him face to face and leaving all this world behind us, we will live in eternity with our Savior. Do we yearn for that day as much as we do for earthly things? Do I long for Jesus to return more than I do for another baby? Sometimes I wonder if I hope to see his face more than I hope for healing from chronic pain?”

4. Congregations of Bruised Reeds: My friend Benjamin Vrbicek shares that we all are the bruised, but serve a God who sees our bruising. He offers this pastoral wisdom, “Over the last decade of pastoral ministry, I have learned the time required to heal from abuse and other trauma is always longer than I would have guessed.”

5. Shadows in the Sky: I’m a total sucker for videos that display a sliver of the breathtaking glory and power of our Almighty God. Don’t multi-task when you watch this one.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1. The Fading of Forgiveness: Tim Keller reflects on a troubling trend. He says, “Today, after the renewal of the racial justice movement in the wake of George Floyd’s death, the emphasis on guilt and justice is ever more on the rise and the concept of forgiveness seems, especially to the younger generation, increasingly problematic. What are the influences that are making forgiveness problematic in our culture?” Later, Keller offers this insight, “When a society rejects the Christian account of who we are, it doesn’t become less moralistic but far more so, because it retains an inchoate sense of justice but has no means of offering and receiving forgiveness.” The article is long but well worth the time.

2. The Wastefulness of Beauty: Michael Rennier reflects on God’s invitation for us to step into creating with delight, even when what we create is impermanent. He concludes, “Make art. Make beauty. Toss it away. Trace your name in water. Cast beauty in your wake, a seed that may be forgotten and buried forever or, perhaps, to be retrieved at some future date by hot, warm nervous hands. Either way, it makes no difference. It’s all love.”

3. There’s No Such Thing as the Lizard Brain: Lisa Feldman Barrett undermines this and other myths on the brain explored. She says that research tells us, “What does all this mean for you? You’re not a simple stimulus-response organism. The experiences you have today influence the actions that your brain automatically launches tomorrow.”

4. How Religious Commitment Varies by Country: Africa, Middle East, and South Asia rank highest of countries with a high religious commitment. It’s telling to see the very low religious commitment in Canada, Europe, and China. The United States lands in the middle at 53% of those saying religion is important to them.

5. Iguana Chased by Nest of Deadly Snakes: Get out your popcorn and check your heart rate for these two minutes of adrenaline.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1. Help! I Don’t Like the Music at My Church: Matt Merker deals with a struggle of many. He asks, “How do you feel about the music at your church? Are you ever disappointed by it? Why?” I appreciate this piece of advice, “Often we feel distaste at a style of music because we are less familiar with it. Take a music appreciation class. Ask friends for album recommendations. Try to understand why other people enjoy the music your church uses. It may not become your favorite genre, but you might be surprised to find that your tastes are more flexible than you once assumed.”

2. I Just Can’t: Excellent post on when we can’t, but Christ can. Susan Lafferty says, “So, today, when I hear myself saying, ‘I just can’t,’ it’s a signal for me to check. And ask. Am I piling a to-do list on my life without seeking Him first? Am I trying to do this all in my own strength? Am I willing to keep in step with the Spirit, learning from Him?”

3. A Typesetting God: Melissa Edgington with a “it just so happened” story of God’s abundant goodness.

4. When It’s Time to Leave A Church: I wrote a series on this topic a couple of years back that I’m thinking about refreshing because it’s a significant issue right now, in the meanwhile, HB Charles offers solid advice on how and when to leave a church. I appreciated this point, “Consider how your transfer will affect others. Christianity is not about you. It’s about Christ and others. If your heart is right, you will feel the weight of how your potential move will injure or influence others. If you can leave without affecting anyone, you were not a good member.”

5. Transient 3: 6 months of storm chasing in a jaw-dropping 3 minutes.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1. Those the World Overlooks, God Sees: Trevin Wax says, “What does this mean for the historian? The overwhelming majority of people in the world will never have their stories told. “Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?” goes the song from the musical Hamilton. For most people, the answer to who will tell their story is no one.”

2. 3 Ways Cancel Culture Can Strengthen the Church: Jacob Haywood offers encouragement. He reminds us that, “American Christians have become so used to religious freedom and the general acceptance of Christianity that many have been lulled into an amnesia of the required sufferings Christ says are expected of His followers.”

3. There’s Something About Your Faithfulness, Sister: Madelyn Canada with a lovely encouragement. “But there’s something about your faithfulness, sister, that fills me up. It’s an arrow pointing me to the One who is worth it all.”

4. Progressive Christianity: Even Shallower than the Evangelical Faith I Left: Excellent reflection of Ian Harbor’s spiritual journey. He shares, “I was an #exvangelical who left the faith of my youth for “progressive Christianity.” Then I returned. Here’s my #revangelical story.”

5. The Blink of an Eye: What happens in the universe in a blink of an eye? A lot.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

1. Whataboutism is a Mark of Foolishness: Brett McCracken explains the problem of pointing the finger at the other side, “Ultimately, whataboutism is a convenient, lazy, and destructive rhetorical tactic that shrinks Christian faith to the narrow confines of tribalism’s partisan aims.”

2. An Open Letter to a Discouraged Saint: Mike Emlet begins, “I know you are discouraged and distressed this morning. The trials and temptations you’ve faced this past week have brought you low. Suffering clouds your vision. Sin’s hangover—guilt, shame, and doubt—still pounds in your soul.”

3. Let Limitations Do Their Work: This is some excellent writing and advice from my friend John Starke. He says, “My wife said to me one evening as we were talking about some limitations we were experiencing: “Let the limitations do their work.” Yes and maybe that ought to be an ordinary mantra. Limitations shape us into something deeper than what we would have planned for ourselves.”

4. A Lent Within a Lent: A double-dose of John Starke for you. He reflects on this timely by William Willimon as it relates to Lent, “We thought that our problem was our need for freedom, for liberation. No. Our problem is thirst.”

5. 10 Questions Churches Should Ask Their Generation Z Members: I love these questions and the spirit of discovery. Here are Greg Jao’s first two questions, “Where does Christianity, as lived and taught at our ministry, seem most disconnected or remote from your life? If your friends could identify someone currently alive as their “hero,” who would it be and why?”

6. Travel Photographer of the Year: You can spend five minutes on this site of five hours. There are so many amazing photos. I was wowed by Nicolas Raspiengeas and the special mentions in the nature, sealife, and wildlife category. What are some of your favorites?

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