“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

Philippians 3:10-11

Why? How Come? How many? Are you sure? But, why?

There is a great scene in the John Candy movie, Uncle Buck, where Candy’s character is being grilled by his young nephew on any range of questions.  As the questions come fast and furious he interrupts to ask, “What’s your record for consecutive questions asked?” Without missing a beat the little boy responds, “38”, and the questions and answers continue.  Anyone who has spent any time with a child in that preschool to elementary age group knows how curious the mind of a child can be. As they attempt to learn and understand the world around them the questions can come at a non-stop pace, truth be told 38 consecutive questions doesn’t sound like all that many.

I sometimes wonder how Paul dealt with those early churches that he helped to plant.  I am sure that they had to of been full of people who were curious. Full of questions, likely many of the same questions asked time and time again.  At the beginning of the third chapter of his letter to the Philippians Paul wrote, “To write the same things to you is not troublesome to me, and for you it is a safeguard.”  This all but confirmed for me that Paul from time to time found himself answering the same questions over and over. But I love Paul’s words here, that it “is not troublesome”, even if he is responding to the 38th consecutive question Paul’s response shows that the most important thing to him is sharing Christ with the world.  Later in his letter Paul wrote the verses that I had copied above, the ones that we will use as our theme verses for the month of April. To me those verses are the summation of why we ask all those questions. Because we, like Paul, want to know Christ and the power that his resurrection has shared with all the world. It is why we continue to look to the Scriptures and ask questions, why we continue to seek wisdom and knowledge from them.

My hope for us all as we finish our Lenten journey, as we celebrate Christ’s glorious resurrection on Easter morning, is that we continue to ask those questions.  Continue to seek God’s knowledge and wisdom, continue to seek God’s will for your life. Ask questions if necessary, but make sure you take the time to listen for the answer as well.  As we celebrate this month may we continue to seek God’s will be done.

Blessings,
Pastor Devin

To read the rest of the April newsletter, please click here: April 2019