I Don’t Have the Answers

From Keep It Simple by Marie Aitkin on YouVersion

Maybe you’re hesitant to share your faith because you don’t have all the answers. The woman who encounters Jesus at the well rushes back to her village and tells everyone, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did!’ Given her history and the length of time she’d known Jesus (an hour or two at best), she definitely wouldn’t have had all the answers. She was qualified to tell people about Jesus simply because she’d met Him herself. She was evangelising through showing, not telling.

Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV –  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

If you’re concerned you’ll be drawn into deep theological debates and you don’t believe you’re up to the challenge, the good news is you don’t need to know the answers, because you do know the answer and His name is Jesus. Your role is simply to signpost people to Him. If you share what wows you about Jesus, no one can invalidate that. No one can argue or prove that you’re not grateful for something He’s done for you. That’s a great place to start simply showing people Jesus.

John 4:28-30 ESV – So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him.

The woman at the well offered her people a pathway to meet Jesus based on her own experience, not education. The priority for people is an encounter with Jesus – not passages and pages. In your relationship with an antagonistic coworker, a wayward teenager, or a cynical friend, try to remember that we’re called to win souls, not arguments. We know the Word of God is true, but until someone meets Jesus for themselves the Word of God will not be true to them. We need to invite them to come and see for themselves.

John 1:43-49 ESV –  The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” [44] Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

In this passage from John’s gospel, he tells the story of Philip inviting Nathanael to follow him, as he follows Jesus. ‘Come and see for yourself,’ says Philip. He commits to journeying with his friend as together, they approach Jesus. It’s vital that, as we point people to Jesus, we come alongside them physically and spiritually. I remember how foreign everything felt when I first started attending church with some friends who had invited me. I had tons of questions, some of which my friends couldn’t answer. I respected that they simply said, ‘I don’t know’. They kept showing up with me and for me, and we figured it out together.

You can’t assume people are always going to have tricky questions. They may not. You just don’t know what they’re thinking or feeling. If they do have tough questions, listen patiently and with understanding. Let’s simply be honest, authentic, and curious, and find out together. Through our love, patience, and generosity, let’s show people Jesus, the only one who holds all the answers. Jesus promised to be with us as we go out into all the world and say to those who don’t yet know Him, ‘Come with me! Come and see Him for yourself.’