All Christians Have the Same IQ. Let’s Start Using Them by Brian J. Wright for The Gospel Coalition
As a junior in college, I was hit with a number of thought-provoking questions I’d never considered before as a non-Christian. On many occasions, I wished I’d been asked them earlier in my life instead of enduring the bad decisions, broken relationships, and pain I’d already experienced.
Those penetrating, life-changing questions weren’t the result of someone’s wit. No, all the questions that pierced my soul that year came directly from God’s Word after a teammate challenged me to read the Bible for the first time. Before long, I realized what a blessing it was that all Christians had the same IQ—that is, “inspired questions”—as me.
Inspired Questions
You can’t get to right answers until you have the right questions—and the greatest questions ever asked are inspired ones. The Bible alone stands as the source and storehouse of inspired questions. It asks questions we could never ask ourselves.
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Indeed, a substantial portion of our Bible is questions, and asking questions was a primary teaching method of Jesus. To put this in perspective, Proverbs has approximately 930 sayings, and the New Testament contains about 980 questions.
Of course, we find inspired questions throughout the whole Bible, not just in the New Testament. Satan approaches Eve with a question in the garden of Eden (Gen. 3:1). When the angel of the Lord first appears in the Bible, he asks a question (Gen. 16:8). When the witch of Endor conjures up Samuel from the dead, he immediately asks Saul questions (1 Sam. 28:15–16). When God finally speaks to Job, he addresses him with questions (Job 38–41). When the angel Gabriel appears in the Book of Daniel, he begins with a question (Dan. 8:13).
The importance of inspired questions is unquestionable.
Importance of Inspired Questions
Just as a doctor asks questions to diagnose our disease, God’s Word contains hundreds of X-ray-like questions for our soul. They can help us determine our spiritual state—urging us to change our focus, reorder our affections, and reprioritize our loves. They compel us to love God more fervently and selflessly, while weaning our hearts off the lies and lures of this world. They enable us to cope with adversity, demolish strongholds, and achieve what would otherwise be impossible—all through the gift of biblical wisdom. Inspired questions reveal our hearts in ways other methods cannot.
