Every person we come across that doesn’t know who Jesus is will have something in common. They will have questions. Now one thing we have to do is figure out the heart behind their questions.

Generally there are 3 different hearts for these questions.

1) The genuine questioner: this is the person who is seeking answers because they are curious about Christianity, God, the hope in us, our lives. These questioners are the ones we pray for God to send us.

2) The know-it-all questioner: This is the person who heard a series of questions that they heard will trip up Christians disproving their faith. Most of these questions can be good questions too, but sadly, most of the time these people aren’t actually trying to listen to your answers. These people you can identify pretty quickly if their questions are genuine. Now what do you do in response to these? There’s 2 things I would encourage especially with the hard questions. 1) If you know the answer, give it to them. But they’ll be there to argue and you don’t have to sit there and entertain them in arguements. 2) if you don’t know the answer say, I don’t know, but can I get back to you on that? And the way in which they answer that will show their heart in the questions.

3) The angry questioner: this is the person that has a much deeper problem and we all know it. We pray for that person. And we pray for them hard. There is some reason they are against the faith, whether justified or unjustified. Our goal is to make them feel heard, make them feel loved, and know that at the end of the road, our goal is to share with them who Jesus truly is. Be an example to them of what a Christian truly is. Sometimes their walls are so high up and their hearts are so hardened that a productive conversation seems impossible. Then, we pray for them. Hard and often.

My question for you today is what is one way you would love a family member (let’s say a cousin) who is the angry questioner?