Jesus never dodged questions. He encouraged honest questions. He answered them, as with the woman at the well (John 4). But he rebuked posers with their fake questions, pretending to seek truth but worshiping themselves and going their own way in life (Matt. 23)
I told Claudie his questions were good ones. I also assured him that the bible has good answers. Bad things happen because of all of the evil in the world resulting from the cumulative fallout of generations of unbridled, depraved sinfulness.
As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; . . . there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away . . . there is no one who does good, not even one. . . . [R]uin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. . . . There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God . . ." (Rom. 3:10-23).
When his questions had been answered and he heard and understood the gospel, Claudie confirmed that he believed Jesus is God's Son who died for his sins so Claudie doesn't have to and that he rose again the third day to prove he is God's Son (1 Cor. 15:1-4). I asked Claudie if had ever repented of his sins--cried out to God for forgiveness of his sins, past, present, and future, and turned to cling to Christ and follow Him. No, he said. But he asked me to pray with him. So, I prayed that Claudie would repent and cling to Christ by faith alone for his salvation and that he would follow Christ with his whole heart. I urged him to read God's word each day, asking God to help him understand what he read and obey it, which is following Jesus. Pray the Lord will cause Claudie to be good ground and produce fruit for the Kingdom 100Fold!
No comments:
Post a Comment