“Nothing we expected, yet everything we need.”
That’s what Michael and Lauren McAfee suggest you’ll find when you read the Bible for yourself. That’s their charge to the millennial generation in their new book, Not What You Think: Why the Bible Might Be Nothing We Expected Yet Everything We Need, published by Zondervan.
Michael and Lauren write this book to millennials, those born between 1980 and 1995. Believe it or not, this is the largest generation in American history: 78 million, or one in three adults today. Within five years this generation will account for 75 percent of the U.S. workforce. Michael and Lauren write to their millennial peers, which includes me, born in 1981.
In Not What You Think, Michael and Lauren are honest about themselves and Bible. Which is appropriate, since unpolished honesty is what you get in the Bible. They write:
The Bible is a unique source of comfort because, compared with all the other books on the market today, the Bible is the most honest about the failures of humankind. . . . You will not find a more authentic ancient religious text than the Bible.
You may think Job is about finding a job, as Michael’s friend did. Well, you’re in for a rude awakening. But the story of might be just what God intends to carry you through crisis.
The McAfees joined me on Gospelbound to discuss happiness, authority, suffering, and the surprises we find when we read the Bible for ourselves.