Preteen Truth

Preteen Truth

Bible Blast: Read 1 Peter 2:1-3

I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. 1 Corinthians 3:2

Trivia question! Which famous author’s real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens? (I’ll give you a hint, he wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.)

It’s Mark Twain. Maybe you haven’t read anything by him yet, but there’s a good chance you will. Mark Twain is famous for writing stories like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

You may wonder why he would pick a different name, but that’s actually pretty common for fiction authors. It’s called a “pseudonym” (pronounced “soo-doe-nim”).

Aside from having written a lot of books and stories, Mark Twain is one of the most quoted people around (although he died in 1910). He said some really funny and smart stuff.

It doesn’t appear as though Mark Twain was a follower of Jesus Christ, but he did say one really interesting thing about the Bible. He said, “Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand.”

Even though he didn’t believe the Bible was 100 percent truth, he made a perceptive comment. The passages he did understand were already convicting him with their truth. Besides, it simply makes sense to begin with the parts of Scripture that you can understand. It can be totally overwhelming to open the Bible and see a bunch of weird names and phrases that you don’t understand. Don’t worry too much about the things that you won’t understand until you get older. For now, focus on the bunches of things you totally understand, like, “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you” (Matthew 7:12)

When you come across something that you don’t quite get in the Bible, ask God for understanding, or ask your parents or an adult at church to help you. If you still don’t understand, just set that passage aside. God will reveal it to you when you’re ready.

Girl Gab: If you were an author and you could pick a pseudonym (fake name) to write under, what would you choose? How about “Pen N. Paypurr”? Talk to God about the Bible today. Tell him how it makes you feel. Ask him to help you understand what you read.