Articles

Growing up is no little deal. As children make the transition to adolescence, as adolescents make the transition to adults, and as graduations send kids out of the home to colleges, universities, training programs, and places of work, the question of what it means to grow up becomes a pressing one. Particularly, we might ask: What would it mean to grow up as a Christian?

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In 1 Peter 5:8, Peter issues two incisive imperatives: “Be sober-minded; be watchful.” We have a duty of personal vigilance, since, as Peter goes on to explain, “your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” There can be no passive defense in the Christian life. The moment we let our minds wander, the moment we get lazy, unguarded, or slothful, we are immediately in a spiritual danger zone.

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Have you ever wished you could see how the entire Bible fits together as one cohesive story? In The Story of God and Us, pastor and theology professor Jonathan Murphy retells the grand narrative of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. You’ll begin with creation and trace the line of God’s unfolding plan of redemption through the fall, the patriarchs, the kings, the prophets, and then the coming of the Messiah in the Gospels. You’ll continue the storyline of God’s faithfulness from generation to generation in Acts and the Epistles and finally anticipate all to come as revealed in Revelation. This captivating book connects all the dots for those who’ve never read the Bible in its entirety or those unsure of how all the people and events tell one unified story.

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The book of Nehemiah gives us a spectacular picture of godly leadership and initiative: Facing a run-down Jerusalem with a broken-down wall after the Babylonian exile, Nehemiah, the book’s namesake, leads the people in rebuilding the wall and rededicating the city and its people to God. Yet at the outset of the “great work” that Nehemiah accomplishes and the challenges that accompany it, Nehemiah 2:11 contains a simple sentence that we may be tempted to overlook: “I went to Jerusalem and was there three days.”

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One of the evidences of being adopted into God’s family is that we pray. Paul says in Romans 8:15, “You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” In the family of God, we have the privilege of baring our hearts to the Father.

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From seventeenth-century Puritan minister and author John Flavel, Christ and His Threefold Office and Christ Humbled yet Exalted invite you to see Jesus more clearly and love Him more deeply through a fuller picture of who He is and what He’s done for you.

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In Hebrews 10:26–27, the unnamed writer of the book issues a solemn warning: “If we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.” When we read these verses, we are reminded that clearly, in the writer’s context, there were those who had not simply neglected the gatherings of God’s people but also drifted from their moorings to the truth of God in Christ. They had become, in familiar church language, backsliders.

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Have you ever considered that you can be pharisaical in your study of the Bible? It’s true! In John 5, for instance, Jesus acknowledged the Pharisees’ commitment to studying their Old Testaments, but with an important caveat: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39–40). The Pharisees knew their Scriptures well—but they missed Christ in them and so missed the point entirely.

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A sensible middle schooler can likely grasp the teaching, found throughout the New Testament, that although as Christians we may be disregarded as naive or bizarre, we are not to live in such a way as to be dismissed because we are bad, intolerant, rebellious, or disrespectful. Christians are to be exemplars of obedience—even in a non-Christian society!

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In many ways, the journey of God’s people from Egypt to Canaan serves as a pattern and a picture of the Christian life. As Israel moved to its rest in the promised land, so the church moves toward its rest in heaven; and as they experienced temptation and declension in the wilderness, so do we.

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