We were in week three of a five week series entitled ‘Living out God’s purposes’ in Student Quest this week. It’s actually centered around our student ministry purpose statement, ‘We are real people, in love with a real God, making a real difference in the world.’ That statement contains five values, or purposes:

• Real People: Fellowship
• Real God: Worship, Discipleship
• Real Difference: Evangelism, Service

We’re using a study called ‘Living out God’s purposes’ from the Live Curriculum as our launching point. This week I taught the middle school students while Jeff M taught the high school students. The series is actually looking at the story of Mary and how she lived out God’s purposes in her life.

On Sunday we focused on the biblical purpose of growing spiritually. We examined Mary’s song in Luke 1:46-55—a passage that revealed her deep understanding of God’s nature and how God miraculously protected and provided for Israel throughout the nation’s history.

This week, look for an opportunity to talk with your teenager about this week’s lesson. Here are some questions you could include in your conversation:

• You’ve probably thought about this question before, but it’s worth asking again: Why is it important to study the Bible? How does this commitment contribute to your spiritual growth?
• What’s the point of memorizing verses from the Bible? How have you grown in this area, or how much do you continue to struggle with this?
• What results or changes have you seen in your life as you spend more time reading Scripture, memorizing Bible verses, and pursuing other commitments to spiritual growth?

If your family doesn’t already have a regular pattern of spending time together reading the Bible and talking about God’s work in your lives, this is a great opportunity to launch that habit. Use the experience of reading and memorizing the Bible to create opportunities to talk about the power of God’s Word in your lives and its ability to help your children grow on their own, stand strong, and overcome life’s hurdles. Have a great week!