Parents, I hope you’re taking me up on the Summer Reading Challenge. I realize some of you may be reading through Knowing Scripture and The Holiness of God with your teens, but I suspect some of you are taking advantage of this opportunity to dive into Lost In The Middle. If you’re following the schedule, by now you have read the Intro and chapters 1 and 2.

I found these words in the introduction to be very helpful:

“Put the following two Bible phrases together and you will begin to understand the magnitude and practicality of the redemption that could only be supplied by Christ Jesus: “Every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time,” and “After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down.” In Scripture’s redemption story, the sadness of the totality of our depravity kisses the celebration of the totality of Christ’s provision. God is satisfied, Christ has sat down, and there is hope for us–a practical hope stretching from now to the ends of eternity. As a result, we come to every topic of our lives as the saddest and the most celebrant people on earth. This functional tension between sadness and celebration results in the kind of practical wisdom that the Bible alone affords. Midlife must be viewed from these two redemptive perspectives.” (p. 23, emphasis mine)

What does this mean for you today, on Thursday, June 15? It depends on your circumstances. Maybe today you’re painfully aware of your own sinful patterns. Maybe one of your kids has sinned against you. Again. Maybe there are steep challenges at the office, or a persistent relational conflict with a once-trusted friend. Maybe it’s something else. Whatever it is, I think Dr. Tripp would tell us to mourn for how sin has tainted and ruined everything, and yet rejoice that Jesus Christ is in the business of redeeming all things, repairing all that now is broken.

These two views are like guardrails on either side of a treacherous road: lose one and risk a fiery crash. If we ignore the reality of sin, we’ll blame all our problems on circumstances outside ourselves, and we won’t be able to offer genuine solutions to our others in their problems. Self-righteousness, bitterness, and anger will likely follow. On the other hand, if we forget who Jesus is and what He has done, there will be no genuine hope. We’ll apply one band-aid after another to our problems, never experiencing the joy and hope of forgiveness. Welcome to idolatry and despair.

The path through mid-life (or old-age or the teen years, or anything in between) must include these two guardrails. Keep both of these guardrails in place and the path through mid-life will be a lot safer. How can you spouse, caregroup, or other mature friends help you view all of life “from these two redemptive perspectives”?

Categories: Thursday Thoughts For Parents, five15 blog