REFUSING
BULLET-POINT FAITH

Topics: Beliefs; Choices; Curiosity; Decisions; Faith; Longing; Questions; Seekers; Witnessing

References: Matthew 16:24–28; Luke 9:23–26; Hebrews 4:12

A man once appeared at my office door asking for some quick points on Christianity to help make sense of the dinner conversations he was having with his wife, a recent convert. He made it clear that he was very busy and very successful and didn’t really have time to study her beliefs—just bullet points, if you please.

It would have been easy to hand him a book or pamphlet. But instead, I said, “I can see you are a very busy and very successful person, so I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Why?” he asked, frustrated.

“Because if I were to give you the bullet points and you were to really understand them, they might work in you so significantly that your life could really get messed-up. You would have to rethink the meaning of success, of time, of family—of everything, really. I don’t think you really want to do that, do you?”

It was an effort to raise his thirst, not to give him answers. In his case, it worked.

—Mark Labberton, “Pastor of Desperation,” Leadership (Winter 2006)