When Sunday School Answers Aren’t Enough

“What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord….I want to know Christ.”
-Philippians 3:8, 10-

Several years ago, I listened as a minister friend of mine described a season in his life when he began to question just about everything he had always known about God. My friend had gone through a particularly difficult experience with one of his children, and it proved to be more than a speed bump in his spiritual journey.
The conversation was more of a monologue than a dialogue. I listened as he vented, and his thought progression was honestly hard to hear. He questioned aloud whether God really worked in all things for good. He struggled, believing that a good God would allow something so terrible to happen. He wondered if God wasn’t so quick to forgive after all, instead thinking that perhaps God was a vengeful and wrathful God, punishing the child for the past sins of the father. He thought perhaps he had been living a lie all along and doubted he could ever be truly secure in his salvation. And then he summed up his thoughts: “I’ve heard all those things my whole life; I guess I just got to the point where all the Sunday School answers weren’t enough.”
I’ll be honest. It was one of those moments when I couldn’t manufacture a great pastoral response. After all, what right answer could I give him that wouldn’t sound trite or rehearsed? What could I tell him that he hadn’t already heard — and even preached — for years? He had grown up in church. He was a third generation minister. By this point in his life, he had spent nearly 20 years teaching biblical truth to many people. But I couldn’t help but wonder — maybe his problem was that he grew up knowing the right answers but never really got to know Jesus.
The apostle Paul knew all the right answers — he was a well-trained Pharisee and teacher of the law. He had the right lineage, preached the right sermons, and lived the right way. He knew the right people and had the right testimony. But he also had the right perspective: All those right answers and actions proved “worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8 NLT).
And he had the right desire: “I want to know Christ” (Philippians 3:10).
By the way, (and this might go without saying), it’s not that the Sunday School answers aren’t true. It’s just that they pale in comparison with knowing the one who said, “I am the truth.”

Following Today
Can you identify with this minister’s doubts? Think of a time in your own life when you questioned beliefs that you had long held to be true. Is it possible you have spent more time learning the right answers than getting to know Jesus? Pray today that Jesus would reveal Himself even more clearly to you as you read His Word.