Growing in the Lord

Growing in the Lord

READ: GALATIANS 6:1-10; EPHESIANS 4:1-16; HEBREWS 10:23-25 [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=GALATIANS%206%3A1-10%3B%20EPHESIANS%204%3A1-16%3B%20HEBREWS%2010%3A23-25&version=CSB] When I was just starting high school, it was tough. I wasn’t getting the grades I wanted to get, there was so much more work than in middle school, and I didn’t fit in very quickly. It was such a hard transition, and I was just so confused. Why is this so much harder? I wondered. And then I started to compare myself to others. Why isn’t it this hard for everyone else? My sister is doing so much better than me, and she seems fine with the workload. So why am I struggling so much? It’s the same way in our walk with Jesus. When we struggle with sin, doubt, or hard passages of the Bible, we sometimes start to compare ourselves to other Christians. We can even start to believe everyone else’s faith is, well, perfect! But that’s not true. We all struggle with following Jesus, and different aspects of our walk with Him may be easier or harder at different times in our lives. The good news is, God calls us to community with other Christians—not comparison. Remember, we all need Jesus. He loves us so much that He died and rose again to save us, and we all need to be reminded of that gospel truth every day. Growing in Him is a process, and it’s a process we do in community as we preach the gospel to ourselves and to each other. Our struggles are easier when we share them with people close to us— whether that be our friends, our parents, our siblings, a pastor, a Bible study group, or someone else. When we share our struggles with other believers, we find that everyone is struggling with something. That honesty allows us to encourage each other as we all grow in the Lord! • Kaelyn Hartman • What’s one area of your faith you’ve been struggling with lately? Who are trusted Christians in your life you can talk to about your struggles—people who will listen with empathy and remind you of Jesus’s love, compassion, forgiveness, and help? (If no one comes to mind, you can ask God to help you identify someone in the future.) • Why is community such an important part of following Jesus? (Hint: reread today’s Bible passages.) But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part. Ephesians 4:15-16 (CSB)

Biblical Errors?

READ: PSALM 119:103-105; LUKE 1:1-4; 2 PETER 1:16-21 [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=PSALM%20119%3A103-105%3B%20LUKE%201%3A1-4%3B%202%20PETER%201%3A16-21%20&version=CSB] Have you ever heard someone say that the Bible is full of errors? Biblical teachings can be tough, which is one reason a lot of people believe the Bible isn’t true. While some biblical claims are genuinely difficult to understand, other supposed errors are easily explained. Many of these kinds of objections fall into the pattern I call “The Corroboration Problem.” These arguments often go something like this: “The Bible refers to people/places/events that didn’t exist. If they existed, we’d have some record of it.” But lack of corroborating sources isn’t evidence of an error. Outside of the Bible, we may not find other sources showing that something did exist, but we also can’t say it didn’t. It’s just that biblical texts are the only historical record we have of some people, places, and events. Two points are worth noting here. First, the Bible itself is a record. There are plenty of other things we only know about the ancient world because they’re mentioned in a single, non-biblical text. So, if we’re willing to believe other ancient histories and stories, why not the Bible? Second, it’s possible that other records do exist, but we just haven’t found them yet. For example, some people used to say the Hittites never existed, but then we found their royal archive. Similarly, the book of Luke was criticized for using the title tetrarch, but then other writings were found confirming Luke’s accuracy. Another variation of “The Corroboration Problem” goes, “The Bible refers to a person/place/event by a name that wasn’t used until many years later.” But consider a similar scenario: If I said, “The Chippewa people historically lived around Lake Superior,” we wouldn’t say I made an error just because the lake wasn’t called Lake Superior yet. Similarly, the authors of the Bible used the common names their readers understood, even when telling old stories. The takeaway? Let’s not be too quick to believe accusations of biblical errors. It’s a stunningly accurate book, which God gave us because He loves us and wants us to know Him through Jesus. • Christiana Albrecht • God loves us so much that, over thousands of years and through dozens of authors, He gave us the Bible so we could know Him. It shows how the Father sent the Son, Jesus, to die and rise again to save us from sin and death. What questions do you have about the Bible? Who are trusted Christians you could talk to about these questions, such as pastors, parents, or youth leaders? So that you may know the certainty of the things about which you have been instructed. Luke 1:4 (CSB)

Measuring Up

READ: EPHESIANS 1:4-14; 2:4-10; 1 PETER 2:4-10 [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=EPHESIANS%201%3A4-14%3B%202%3A4-10%3B%201%20PETER%202%3A4-10&version=NIV] “You have NO idea how much pressure that is,” Maura said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. Along with over forty other students, we’d just gathered for a state scholarship competition. Maura (not her real name) had explained how a previous national winner attended her school. She was expected to uphold that legacy, and she seemed up for the challenge. I looked from Maura to the other participants. She acted so confident, so assured of success. I measured myself against her and found myself lacking. The other students—with stellar scores on college entrance exams—also ranked higher than me in ability and potential; at least, in my opinion. The judging hadn’t even begun, yet I’d already concluded that I’d failed. I didn’t think I could compare to the others, and although I’d earned my spot, I believed I didn’t belong. I just wasn’t good enough. That week of the competition, I lacked confidence and believed lies about my worth. I compared myself to others and assumed I wasn’t valuable just for being me. Later, I started asking, Where do I get my self-esteem? Achievements, awards, approval? I couldn’t depend on things that didn’t last for a lasting sense of self-worth. So, what’s my source of self-acceptance? Jesus told us how much we’re worth when He went to the cross for us. God’s love for us is so great that He paid the ultimate price—Jesus, God the Son, died and rose again to provide us with forgiveness of sins and new life. Once we’ve put our trust in Jesus, we can rest knowing that we’ve been adopted into God’s family, and we are forever free from sin’s punishment. We are the Father’s much-loved children—the ones He sent His own Son to save. The question of our value has been settled. No successes or failures of ours can alter God’s welcome for His children. I didn’t advance past that round of the competition, and Maura certainly outperformed me. Years later, though, I’m learning to see myself through a different lens: the one my loving Father sees me through. • Allison Wilson Lee • What are some of the ways the world tends to measure our worthiness? Can you think of a few things you’ve done because you felt you had to earn love or acceptance? • What hinders you from believing you’re valuable to God? Consider taking a moment to talk to Him about whatever comes to mind. See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1 (NIV)

Hidden Keys

READ: PSALM 91; JOHN 1:35-39, 43-46; 4:28-30 [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=PSALM%2091%3B%20JOHN%201%3A35-39%2C%2043-46%3B%204%3A28-30&version=NIV] Would you give the key to your home to just anyone? Probably not! Usually we guard those spare keys, securing them in hiding places to avoid detection. My spare house key is so cleverly disguised, I’d challenge you to find it. Yet, there are a few people on this planet who know the secret. I can trust them with the key to a place that holds everything I own in the world. One of these trusted people is my dog-sitter. I let her in on my clever secret because I got to know her. I interviewed her, checked out her references, and watched her interacting with my dog. Over time, I’ve come to know her better and better, each encounter deepening my trust in her ability to be true to her word, to take care of my puppy, and to do what she says. In fact, my interactions with her only deepen my conviction that we’re super blessed to have her in our lives! In Psalm 91, the psalmist declares they will trust God. What a great way to live! It’s like they’re giving God the keys to their home. But how do we get to a place where we can say, like Psalm 91:2, the Lord is “my God, in whom I trust”? How can we be ready to give Him access to everything we own in the world? How can we have the assurance that He really is trustworthy? We learn to trust God the same way we learn to trust anybody. We get to know Him. Kind of like how I spent time intentionally getting to know my dog-sitter. By spending time with God in prayer, in Scripture, and with other believers, we get to know Him better and better. The Bible is the best way to know Him, since He wrote it. It’s all about Him, His love for us, and His extraordinary plan to bring us into relationship with Himself through the death and resurrection of Jesus. We often find that, over time, we discover more and more about His trustworthiness as we read the Bible. And our trust has opportunities to build naturally with every encounter with God. We see that He is always true to His word and that He genuinely cares for us. Eventually, we may even give Him the keys to our home. • Kristen Merrill • Building trust takes time, and God is so patient with us. Can you think of a way you’ve seen God’s trustworthiness, either in Scripture, in your own life, or in the life of someone else? • Even after we’ve put our trust in Jesus for salvation, trusting Him with the day-to-day details of our lives is often a process. What is one area of your life God might be inviting you to trust Him with today? I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:2 (NIV)

Dangerous

READ: MATTHEW 16:24-26; 28:16-20; 2 CORINTHIANS 1:3-11; PHILIPPIANS 1:12-26 [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=MATTHEW%2016%3A24-26%3B%2028%3A16-20%3B%202%20CORINTHIANS%201%3A3-11%3B%20PHILIPPIANS%201%3A12-26&version=NIV] Somewhere along the way, I got the idea that Christians should always run toward danger and never be concerned with their own safety. But is that really what the Bible says? I read Matthew 2 recently, and I was struck by how God called Joseph to respond to a very dangerous situation, not by facing it head-on, but by running away. God appeared to Joseph in a dream, warning him of Herod’s plot to kill the young Jesus and telling Joseph to escape to Egypt with the child and His mother Mary. So Joseph got up, and under cover of night the three of them snuck away (verses 13-15). Through Joseph’s obedience, Jesus was protected—and an Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah was fulfilled (Hosea 11:1). After Jesus grew up and began His ministry, there were plenty of times when people wanted to kill Him. So what did Jesus do? Once, when an angry mob tried to throw Him off a cliff, Jesus “walked right through the crowd and went on his way” (Luke 4:28-30). Another time, when some Jewish leaders were plotting to take his life, Jesus delayed going to the festival where He knew they would be looking for him. And when He did go, He went in secret (John 7:1-10). Jesus knew that He was eventually going to die a sacrificial death at the hands of these same leaders, but He was waiting for the Father’s appointed time. When Jesus did let Himself be put to death on the cross, He rose from the grave three days later, just as He said He would! After Jesus ascended into heaven, His followers often faced great danger. Many times, God provided ways of escape, yet many Christians also lost their lives for Jesus’s sake. But even in their suffering, they were comforted by Jesus’s constant presence with them and by the hope of eternal life (Romans 8:35-39). What does all this mean for us? It means that God works in lots of ways—sometimes by calling us to run away from danger, and other times by inviting us to trust Him as we step toward a potentially dangerous situation. Whenever we face danger, we can look to Jesus for direction, relying on His love and trusting that no matter what happens, He will be with us. • Hannah Howe • What questions do you have about facing danger? Who are trusted Christians you can ask? • For examples of times when God provided escape for His people and times when He called them into dangerous situations, read Acts 9:20-25; 12:1-19; 21:10-27; 27:1–28:31; 2 Corinthians 11:32-33. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Psalm 23:4 (NIV)