I remember many years ago participating in a Biblical Counseling Class. I was doing some informal women to women counseling but I felt extremely inadequate. When the opportunity arose to be part of the class, I jumped right in. It was a great opportunity, but I was a little disappointed at the outcome. I really liked the teacher, and he was extremely knowledgeable in the Bible, but I was looking for something that he couldn’t provide: I wanted the answers to give during counseling sessions before I knew what their questions were.

Now before you laugh any harder… It wasn’t that I was looking for robotic replies to personal issues, but I at least thought he’d give me a checklist that I could rely on for tough problems. When I spoke to him afterward and explained my dilemma of feeling inadequate to address a myriad of circumstances with an answer from God’s Word, he gave one simple answer: the Holy Spirit. I would have to rely on the Holy Spirit, using God’s Word, to give me wisdom and direction that I may not have on my own. At the time, that was kind of a terrifying thought to me. It’s a huge responsibility to speak into someone’s life!

All that to say, when given the opportunity to speak Biblical truth to people, we need to take it very seriously. Prayerfully. Humbly. No doubt, we need the Holy Spirit.

But sometimes, even when we feel inclined and equipped to share, we may meet opposition, indifference, or even obstinacy. It may be that the person, for one reason or another, may not want to know the truth. Hopefully, when we are talking to like-minded, Bible-believing followers of Jesus Christ, there is common ground. But for the person that isn’t quite there yet – like Joe – you may need to ask yourself (and God) the question, “How do you answer…?”

Back to the book – The Bridge from OneDayBow, that is. We’re in chapter 29, and we’ve already been introduced to Joe. Joe seems to be a nice guy, but he had some wrong information. That isn’t criticism of the guy, just an observation based on his own statements – which we looked at more fully in the last post.

Tim, Emma, and the other People of the Book, were at the park because they had an honest desire to share the Good News of the King, and the Bridge built by His Son. Tim believed the time of opportunity may soon pass, and there are so many still needing to hear. But most people were living for bobbles in HereAndNow, and weren’t much interested in Truth. But you don’t know until you try…

Tim got to speak to the crowd about the King, but it was then that Joe (in a friendly enough manner) expressed his opinions about it. It was quickly clear that Joe’s views did not come from direct evidence. He was counting heavily on the King’s guaranteed love, while leaning precariously on the idea of his own good character. Nobody wanted to offend Joe, but there were too many people listening to just let it go uncontested.

But the question arises, “How do you answer… someone who may not want the Truth?”

Emma, who was there with Tim, said (to Joe), “That’s good, but would you want to know if what you think isn’t completely true?”

Hmm, good question. And how did Joe respond?  “Well… I guess that I might, if you don’t try to tell me that what I think’s not right.”

Emma question was humble, honest, and respectful. (And a good model for we Christians.) She wasn’t in control of Joe’s response, but knowing how Joe felt about Truth was going to aid in the direction of the conversation that followed.

I have no doubt that Emma was praying, and we soon see that Tim was as well. He sensed that the Nooma inside him (Nooma is Greek for Spirit) wanted to reach Joe. This was about eternal life and death, and Tim needed the appropriate words from the King’s Book and His Nooma. This was much too big to rely on himself to know how to answer.