The title of this post is the name of a book by David Dark which someone gave me a few years ago. It’s quite a good book but I like the title even more so. Because I love asking questions. Not because I’m constantly seeking to challenge or undermine others, but because it helps me think about things in new ways. Questions open possibilities and ideas. Questions make me reconsider my assumptions. Questions invite people to join me in exploring and wondering and imagining.

One of the guys I used to work with would sometimes get frustrated when he felt like all I had were questions without any answers. And I can understand that frustration. I don’t want to come across as a Negative Nellie or a Doubting Debbie! I know I need to keep learning the difference between questions which are critical in the sense of expressing disapproval and questions which are critiquing in the sense of analysing options and possibilities. I want to ask questions that inspire rather than judge.

But I also know that too often Christians can seem to present themselves as people who have all the answers, as if when you choose to follow Jesus suddenly life gets all wrapped in a nice big bow and everything becomes simple. That hasn’t been my experience. For me part of the journey of discipleship has been learning to ask more and better questions.

Jesus asked questions a lot. Seriously, have a look at the Gospels. He asked questions all the time! It was a key way He taught, it was usually the way He engaged with people who came to Him with questions, and it was often the way He got His disciples to imagine what life in the kingdom of God might look like.

I find some of the best questions I ask are the ones I ask of myself. Questions like: What am I afraid of? What do I really want? What am I really trying to say? What is stopping me from doing what I know is right? What if I believed I could make a difference here? Why do I think that way?

And other times the really good questions are the ones God asks me. Who do you say that I am? (Luke 9:20)  What do you want me to do for you? (Matt 20:32) Will you really lay down your life for me? (John 13:38) Those are the ones I’m really trying to work on answering well.