Wonder, Don’t Wander

My daughter recently asked me if it’s okay to “wonder if all the Jesus stuff is true.”

I wasn’t surprised by her question. I’ve expected it, in fact. If you’re raising a child to be a critical thinker, you don’t want them to accept everything you tell them simply because it comes from your lips. I have promised my children that I will always give them the truth about God. But that’s all I can do — give it to them. Whether or not they accept it, ultimately, is their own choice.

“I know it’s true,” she told me. “But sometimes it just all sounds so…unbelievable.”

She’s not wrong. It does sound unbelievable that an all-powerful God could create us for no reason other than sheer love, that He could be generous enough to give us free will to accept that love, that he could be merciful enough not to destroy us when we reject that love, and finally that he could be faithful enough in that love to become flesh and die in order to save us from the consequences of our own poor choices.

But lots of things are unbelievable. That doesn’t mean they’re not true.

When Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed,” he isn’t calling Thomas a fool for questioning something that sounds a little outrageous. He’s just highlighting the fact that Thomas is afforded a luxury that none of the Christians born after him, my daughter included, will have: he gets to see proof with his own eyes.

I told my daughter it’s fine to wonder — just don’t wander. Take Thomas’ example. Stay close to the people you trust. Return to the warmth of the upper room. Be willing to recognize Jesus when he’s in front of you. Never be afraid to believe.

©LPi