Last month marked the passing of Ravi Zacharias, a great teacher and apologist. His was the first book of substance I read willingly as a young adult, skeptical of digging deeper than complacency in the Christian faith. If you are unfamiliar with Ravi, his mission can be accurately summed up in his organization’s motto: “Helping thinkers believe, and believers think”. He spent his life inviting skeptics and antagonists to a public forum to ask questions, or present their disagreements with Christianity. One of the characteristics that was brought out at his memorial service was his patience and genuine desire to see unbelievers come to the light of Christ. He always held that behind every question, was a questioner.
This idea that we could, or should, see beyond the argument to the Imago Dei came as a quiet conviction to reflect on whether I have, in fact, ever seen beyond the words that are spoken to me. I do not have a full auditorium, a microphone, or a scheduled debate. But what I do have are a husband, children, students, neighbors, friends and family. No member of the human race lives without conflict. None of us have arrived at a perfect understanding of our depravity, or a perfect answer to our questions. It is evident, especially in such a time as now, that if we truly believe in our utter lost-ness, and our all-consuming need of a savior, the only response we can give is this: Christ. The only thread that can mend the tear: Christ. The only tonic for our sickness: Christ. The only peace in our marriage: Christ. The only school for our children: Christ. These are the eyes we are called out of darkness to see with. He is the creator of the thinker, the skeptic, the judgey mom in the parking lot.
Like the motto I mentioned says, believers must think. We must see beyond the annoying questions, and the incessant need to be right, and see the one for whom Christ died.