There is a favorite question that every toddler asks: “Why?” My mom had a t-shirt when I was younger that said “I’m the mom, that’s why” (And my dad had one too, but his said “dad,” of course). They wore those shirts when my younger sister was in the age of “why?” I was a teen and sometimes they applied the same logic to me. I’d ask for reasons for my curfew or an explanation for some decision they made. Sometimes the only real answer was that they were in charge and I didn’t have to know why things were the way they were.
A cliché adapted from a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson begins, “Ours is not to reason why.” Sometimes that is true when it comes to asking questions that go beyond what the Bible tells us. But sometimes we should venture into that question. We need to know more than the answer to “how” or “what” in some cases. But often we study what God did, how he did it but we stop short of understanding what is equally important, why things are the way they are.
Our Bible Class beginning in mid-October 2021 is “The Why of it All” and we’ll seek to gain an understanding into some questions of why. Why did God create the world, and us? Why does God forgive us and why did He sacrifice His Son for us? Why does he want us to grow up into the likeness of Christ and share the good news with others?
The Bible doesn’t directly answer all of our why questions. But we can infer, from Scripture, the answers to some of our why questions. We can gain insights into the mind and motivation of God to create us and to love us in Christ. And through that understanding, we can grow in our own motivation to live lives of faith that are in line with our confession.
Ours is to wonder why in this study, and to seek answers to our questions through God’s word. Join the study on Sundays, beginning at approx. 10:30, either in the CLC, or via the same stream that we use for worship.
Pastor John