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Are There Questions You Are Afraid To Ask?
Are you one of those people like the person who ran to Jesus with a question in Mark 10.17? You have a question which has puzzled you for a long time. No one seems to provide you an accurate or biblical answer. It is a question you are so anxious to ask, because it keeps you up at night or bothers you during the day.
Some of the greatest questions are found in scripture, because the same questions are on the minds of people today. Maybe they are phrased a bit differently, but they are the same in importance, need, and content. From all these questions, answers were given. Some of the answers had immediate, favorable responses. Other answers were received with rationalization, rejection, or disappointment.
If we knew the answer to our question might not be favorable, would we ask it?
Your family member has been diagnosed with a tumor. While the surgery is taking place, the one question you have on your mind - but are scared to ask - when you see the doctor is, “Did you get all of it?” If you knew the answer, would you ask the question? People handle their spiritual lives the same way. Do you suppose the rich ruler would have asked the question about having eternal life had he known the answer Jesus would give?
Here are a few questions a person may be scared to ask…
Are the people around me helping me or hurting me?
We really trust our judgment of friends. We believe we know how to pick them, where to find the, and how to keep them. Yet, how much consideration do we place upon the INFLUENCE of those friends upon us?
One of the most well-known friendships is marriage. Ask any husband or wife married for a short period of time about the influence one spouse has upon the other. Honesty does cannot deny that one’s mate impacts his or her attitudes or behaviors.
The Bible identifies the influence companionship has upon us in Proverbs 13.20: “Walk with wise men, and thou shalt be wise; but the companionship of fools shall smart for it (suffer harm - ESV).”
A major influence upon who we become in life has to do with whom you choose to surround yourself. We should know the longer the friendship, the greater the influence one person has upon another. Therefore, we keep a great distance between us and negative influences. You cannot live a positive life around negative people. It is better to be alone than in bad company. On the opposite side of friendship are those who have made such a positive impact upon you for good. You hold out all hope that relationship will last forever.
The choice of whom you choose to be around results in hurting your character or enhancing it. That is not only one of life’s lessons, it is a biblical truth. 1 Corinthians 15.33 speaks of evil company corrupting good morals. Hebrews 10.24 points us to those who will exhort us day by day to live and do good works.
If someone is trying to drain your life slowly of all the truth, righteousness, and godliness you possess, be kind, but tell them that you cannot associate with them unless they change their attitude and behavior. IF someone is making you better by being around them, you need their help. Be with them often. Learn together to please God.
Is my happiness the product of how I feel or who I am?
At the moment, how do you feel? At the moment, who are you? The response to each question is different. If you ask someone, “How do you FEEL?” then ask “How ARE you?” do not be surprised if the answers to the questions are not the same.
One challenge we face is how dominant FEELINGS are. They have become the rule, not the exception. Here is the truth: You become what you repeatedly think or feel. Another way to state it is: If your thoughts are helping, strengthening, and full of believe, it is not how you feel, but who you ARE that makes a difference.
When your thoughts are hurting you, making your heart rot, and your life painful, this is who you ARE, not how you FEEL. As a result, people describe you as lazy, hardheaded, or as a complainer. You have no reason to argue with someone when they evaluate you that way.
Friends, we fill our lives with joy or drain them of happiness. Matthew 5.1-12 is a passage full of blessedness (happiness). It was not the events or circumstances around them that determined this. It was not a “feeling” they had at the beginning or end of the day. Happiness was an inside (heart) job.
The key to it all is what Philippians 4.4 says: “Rejoice in the Lord always…” Joy is in Jesus. It is not a FEELING. It is who we ARE. Then v. 8 contains THOUGHTS God desires for us. I wish I could inject each of these by a needle into every person’s heart. These THOUGHT should be who we ARE. They are not FEELINGS. It is those things the apostle states which should be done always. Why? They are lasting compared to feelings, which come and go as the rising and setting of the sun. Let your joy be in your faith in the Lord, not in the feelings of the moment.
Remember: Jesus is the answer for most every question. Hear him. Obey him.
