jesus is the answer. [what was the question?] | May 07th 2008
i was having a conversation last weekend…venting about over-the-top christians [you know, the "my boss is a jewish carpenter" bumper sticker having, "jesus died for MySpace" t-shirt wearing--yes, that shirt really exists, i saw it--popular christian book reading folks]. i know, i know…jesus love those people and i do too [they're family] but sometimes i want to shake them when i see them on campus with their christian memorabilia or bust into awkward conversations where i hear one person convincing a non-suspecting ’sinner’ about their sin and eternal destiny, or cry when a student comes to me recently burned and turned off by the way christianity was presented to her.
and then the person i was venting to said something profound to me. “so many people are out there shouting ‘jesus is the answer’ to people who aren’t asking the question.” that’s it! that statement resonates so deeply in my heart and the relationships around me, the campus i love, the city i live in…so many people aren’t yet aware of their need for a savior, don’t yet know that they need something bigger, more powerful and purposeful to live for and be loved by, aren’t seeing the way jesus does something for my life that they deeply desire and desperately need. so i’ve been chewing on that statement. wondering…how does my life cause people to ask the question. how do i, how do the students i work with, how does my jesus-loving church raise the question in the lives of people who don’t yet know him. what if we were people who shouted the answer much less and caused the question much more. “why is she experiencing such peace in the midst of a battle with cancer?” “why are they giving away free water–no strings attached?” “what brings the most diverse, hodge podge group of students on campus together every week? how are they friends? and why?” “why are they spending their saturday at the homeless shelter down the street?” “what is it about her? about him? about them?”
jesus.
what a sweet privilege to share the answer. but maybe an even sweeter privilege to be the ones causing the question.
i feel like this relates to what we were saying about GVC and churches tonight! that statement is so profound and hits home.
Comment by sisharder — May 8, 2008 @ 10:05 pm
I love this! it’s so true, and I’ve been that girl who doesn’t want “the answer” thrown in my face because I wasn’t ready to ask the questions… Amen to this!!!
Comment by Beth Ann — May 9, 2008 @ 3:30 pm
[...] WordPress.org Questions May 14, 2008, 11:30 am Filed under: Addis Ababa So i got in an interesting conversation yesterday about evolution with some people who had some different opinions than myself. It was interesting to hear their perspectives but then i found myself not really contributing to the conversation. i felt like i didn’t really know what to say about it all because i still have so many questions about the origins of the world but then i thought about my friend amy’s blog where she recently wrote that “Jesus is the answer. [what was the question?]” [...]
Pingback by Questions « Daniel Seidel’s Weblog — May 14, 2008 @ 10:30 am
love it when truth slaps me in the face. great comment by your friend. great thoughts.
Comment by kristinschaaf — May 21, 2008 @ 6:14 pm