Challenging Questions for Thought

2008-01-19

During the introduction to a new class, some very intriguing subject matters came up. Though the training facility here is mainly designed to minister cross-culturally, almost every subject matter comes back to challenge me in some way.

Here are some questions: What is our source of truth? In what do we find our identity? What is our source of life, and what motivates us to do what we do? In what ways are we growing as people, and what defines what growth is?

As human beings in our culture, we cling to certain values that answer some of these questions. Our source of truth normally depends on what is logical. If such and such is true, then such and such is true. Though the postmodern movement is causing many to rethink a lot of this, we still are very much children of the Enlightenment, where logic reigns. We believe the Bible because it is logically true to us. We use apologetics to defend the Faith, showing how the Bible is logically true because of prophecy, archaeology, and many other fields. But what do we do when the Bible seems to defy sound reason? Do we dare to walk with God in faith when things in life turn to turmoil? Our real source of truth is the Word of God because it was written by Him, not merely because we find it true and logical.

Likewise, we have a picture as to where we find our identity. In the west, people are driven by individualism, which came out of our heritage of the American Dream. But our true identity, if we truly know Christ, is in Him. We are a group of people, born of the Spirit, who are in Christ, seen as perfect before God because of His death and resurrection.

What is our source of life, and what is our motivation for living? We live only because God keeps our fragile bodies from expiring. But what motivates us for doing what we do? If we see everything through the eyes of Jesus Christ, who died and withheld nothing good from us and loved us without partiality, then every good thing that we do will be motivated because of what He has done already. If we do anything apart from this mindset and motivation, then we are drawing our source of life from something other than the Spirit of God.

How are we maturing as people? Surely, on the basis of God’s working through the knowledge of His word and through the church in which He has placed us, we begin to count all things as loss. We are becoming conformed into the image of Christ. Anything short of knowing God on a more intimate level is not growth in the right direction.

These basic questions, as we allow God to probe into our deepest thoughts, can be used to see where we are with God. During those times when we see our world falling apart around us, these are the opportunities God gives us to see what we really believe.