I remember the first time I met someone who didn’t believe in God. I was about eleven years old and on summer vacation with my family. I was talking with a couple other vacationing kids about God, when a local boy told me he didn’t believe in God. I remember feeling shocked and saddened that someone actually had no faith in God.
I also remember my own questions after encountering the young atheist. I asked myself why I believed so easily and wondered what if God didn’t exist. My questions didn’t scare me, but they needed answers.
This reminds me of our passage today. John the Baptist is in prison and has sent some of his disciples to make sure that Jesus is The Christ. If John simply asked the questions to himself while sitting alone in a jail cell, he could have been left feeling very alone and afraid. Instead he put action to his questions, and in turn he got answers.
When asked with the heart to find answers, questions can actually make our faith stronger. They only weaken our faith when left hanging. I remember asking my pastor some of the questions I had that summer. He didn’t laugh at me, thinking me young or naïve. He sat with me, opened the Bible and prayed with me. We sought the answers together.
Just as Jesus reassured John though the message he sent back with his disciple, Jesus reassures those who seek answers today through his word, the Holy Spirit and other believers. Do you have faith questions? Go ahead ask.
Read today's passage at Biblegateway Matthew 11:2-19
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