WHAT IS THE ANSWER?

We were talking together about our conversations with unbelievers and how inadequate we sometimes feel because we can’t answer their questions. Somehow we are letting the side down… or worse the Lord Jesus himself. However, having all the answers is NOT what makes you a Christian… and it won’t make them a Christian either!

I can vividly remember a student Christian meeting where we invited Prof. Graham Maclean from the philosophy department at Wits University to “give us the answers” to life’s difficult questions. Graham was a Christian and our expectations were high. After I introduced him and gave his credentials, he got up and said, “I am so sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t have all the answers… and I don’t have to have all the answers to be a Christian”. There was a stunned silence as the impact of what he’d just said was being comprehended. Admitting that you don’t have all the answers is itself a witness! Unbelievers generally think that Christians are arrogant because they claim to have all the answers - and sadly some do! In a conversation with an unbeliever it’s disarming when you admit that you don’t. Immediately they're thinking, “He or she doesn’t have the answer, and they still believe, so being a Christian can’t be be about having all the answers… it must be about something else”.

Christianity is NOT about finding God through having all your questions answered, it’s about God finding you in the midst of all your questioning… NOT with all the answers but with himself, His presence. That’s what people ultimately need... Jesus in their lives!

Yours in Christ,
Gavin