Q is for Questions

 

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We all search for answers to the big questions.  Not everyone realizes that they are looking for the answers.  Many of us don’t really want the answers, not the true answers.  We search for them in all the wrong places.  We find or we create confusion.  We are left with questions.  But there are answers if we look for them in the right places, or rather with the right person. 

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.   John 14:6

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L is for Luke

          We are reading through and discussing the Gospel of Luke in our care group.  A care group is a small group from church that meets in homes to care for one another and to learn more about what the Bible teaches.  Sometimes we will focus on a topic; other times a book of the Bible.  Sometimes we just get together to have some food and fellowship. 

          I was glad we picked the Gospel of Luke in the Bible to look at over the coming weeks.  It’s been on my heart to spend more time just focusing on Jesus especially as we lead up to Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Often times we get caught up in what we are supposed to do as Christians, what we are supposed to think, what experiences we are having.  Jesus can get lost in our lives.   He becomes the buzzword, the pat answer for the Sunday school class, “Jesus, God, the Bible.” 

“Oh Lord, forgive us that we would allow You to become routine in our lives.”

          I was determined to get to know my Jesus more fully, and the Gospel of Luke is just the place to go to do that.   Spending time with Jesus in the Gospel of Luke is an eye opening, a heart opening experience.  I have been reminded over and over again, not only from the text, but from voices all around me that this Jesus is no ordinary man.  The text certainly bears witness that this is someone special.  Is it possible for Him to have been anyone but God?  I am trying to listen more closely and look more intently, remembering Who it is I am walking with in this narrative.  These are the words God wanted recorded that we would know the truth. 

          Learning is a good L word too.  The more I can learn, the more I know.  The more I know, the more I understand.  The more I understand the more I realize just how little I know and how much there is to learn.  You could study the book of Luke for a long time and not learn or know or understand all that’s there to be revealed about the person of Jesus.   One thing for sure:  He is not mundane in any way. 

                       Faith is based in knowledge and I want to know more. 

 ^“It seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.”  Luke 1:3-5 

A to Z Challenge

K is for to Know

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To know:  to be aware of through observation, inquiry, or information.  To have knowledge about, to have a relationship with, personal experience with, or familiarity with a person, place, thing, idea, or field.

How do we know things?  What do you know?  How do you know that’s true?  What makes you think you know?  What can we know for sure?  What can we know by examining the evidence and coming to a reasonable conclusion?  How many of the things that you know end up being false?  If we have to change our direction because what we thought we knew was wrong, does that mean we can’t know things at all?  

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People discuss and argue about these questions all the time.  They study knowledge, and the acquisition of it, truth and whether or not we can know it, what’s real and what’s not.  They have official sounding names for these studies and theories.  What it points out to me is that what is and what we think about what is may be different.  What is true and what we think is true may be different.  However, What is and what is true, doesn’t depend upon the knowing of it.  If something is true, it is true whether we know it or not.  The knowing of it just makes it mine.  

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.  Proverbs 1:7

 

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F is for Find Out

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“So how do you know that?” 

“Well, it’s common knowledge.  Doesn’t everyone know it?”  I answered, surprised at the question.

“Well, I didn’t know that and I go there all the time.  In fact I have no recollection of that ever being the case.” 

I thought about that.  “Maybe I’m remembering wrong, but I don’t think so.  I’ll check it out and let you know what I find out.” 

His honest, non-threatening question made me wonder.  Was I taking too much for granted?  I needed to find out the truth.

After doing a little research I found out that my information, though technically accurate, was really inconsequential in its scope.  In other words, it wasn’t worth acknowledging or acting upon.  So the stress I put on my supposed “common knowledge” that made my friend ask the question, WAS really in error. 

How much do I believe, talk about, act upon without really understanding the ins and outs?  How much do I pass along without finding out the real deal? 

I’ve been paying more attention to those things, those ideas that I have accepted without giving it a second thought.  I’m trying to listen for those underlying assumptions to which I blindly acquiesce.  Our culture is filled with all kinds of ideas we operate on or agree to because they sound good or because someone we think we can trust said it.  However, with a little reasoning or research we might just see them fall apart.  

What 'common knowledge' are you accepting that may be based in error?  What ideas are you holding onto that have just enough verisimilitude to be convincing, but lead you to wrong conclusions?

I am grateful my friend asked that simple question, “How do you know that?” to prompt me to find out the truth.

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Dedicated to my friend Dick V.