Tag: questions

Procrastinating With Questions

WP Lent 2

We’re getting close to Easter. Can you feel it? Do you feel more “ready” for it than you have before? Are you moving beyond the familiar to SEE Jesus in new ways, different places?

Take John 3:16, for example. It’s quoted, tattooed, worn on t-shirts, and seen at every major sporting event…but can you put it in context? Do you know any of the verses surrounding it?

WP J 3 16

I turned to chapter three of John’s gospel and read it in the message and a new phrase leaped off the page at me. As the conversation unfolds, Jesus tells Nicodemus what he must do, but Nicodemus is full of questions–very pharisee-like. Finally, Jesus tells him: Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. (John 3:11, The Message)

Ouch. This habit of questioning may have been used by the Pharisees a lot…but they don’t have a corner on the market. The longer I can keep someone engaged in dialog or conversation, the more I act like I “don’t get it”–the longer I have before I have to DO it. If you can’t recognize this in yourself, maybe you recall how your children could come up with a hundred questions to avoid doing their homework or cleaning their room.

WP Too many Q

Here’s a quote that might help us put this in perspective: “If you ask too many questions, you will find no answers, only more questions.” (Monica Fairview)

I know the danger here. Someone is going to think I’m saying, “Don’t ask questions.” I’m not. God is able  to handle our questions and curiosity. But we know when we cross the line and venture into “Procrastination Land.”  That’s what God’s message is for us: Don’t go there.

And we’re not procrastinating to avoid making our bed or finishing our math. No, the stakes are higher. We’re avoiding change. We’re clinging desperately to the familiar to keep from having to release control. Just like with Nicodemus, God is calling us to action or deeper surrender, growth or faith.

So today, let’s determine to leave the security of our questions and trust God to really love us. That is what it says in John 3:16, after all.

WP For God so loved

PRAYER: God, thank you for loving us…so much, that you gave. Help us to move beyond our questions and procrastination so that we too can give…give our lives to you more fully, deeply, completely. Amen.

What’s in a Name?

 29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29

 I want to spend a couple days with Thomas and this passage. First, Thomas.

WP tombstone 1  WP tombstone 2

Interesting legacy these folks must have left. How would you like to be remembered for your worst moment?

F.O.R.E.V.E.R.

How would you like for your name to be synonymous with the concept of doubt?

Always the doubter. Not the ponderer or questioner. The doubting one.

That’s Thomas.

He asks one question and is forever branded as the doubter.

WP shame

What’s your worst moment look like? What shame or angst rises up when you think about it?

Imagine what it must have been like for Thomas. The others were claiming that Jesus was alive, resurrected. Wouldn’t you have questions, concerns? Seriously, let’s not jump to conclusions. I’m from Missouri. Show me.

WP Jesus and Thomas

And Jesus did. We’ll talk more about that tomorrow. Right now, I want to stay with Thomas, and his question. And Jesus response.

There was no chastisement for Thomas. No making him feel foolish, or wrong. Picturing Thomas there with Jesus causes hope to rise up in my soul.

Here’s the truth, as I see it: it’s okay to question and doubt as long as when Jesus shows up we recognize him and believe. One theologian has even said, “the doubter is sometimes closer to God than the believer.”

The world will always judge us, maybe even call us names, but the only judgment that matters is Jesus’.

PRAYER: Lord, we stand with Thomas today, and maybe even the father who came to Jesus seeking healing for his son: I believe. Lord, help me with my unbelief. Teach us it’s okay to ask questions. Help us to come to you for answers. We confess that image is often too important–at least the way we worry about what the world thinks about us. Heal the shame-filled spaces in our hearts. And may like Thomas bow in awe and wonder and acknowledge you as our Lord and Savior. Amen.