Do You Know the Answer?

Have you heard the story about the pastor who was giving a children's message using the squirrel as an example of preparedness? 

He started out by saying, “I’m going to describe something, and I want you to raise your hand when you know what it is.” The children nodded eagerly. 

“This thing lives in trees (pause) and eats nuts (pause)…” No hands went up.

“And it is gray (pause) and has a long bushy tail (pause)…” The children were looking at each other, but still no hands raised. 

“And it jumps from branch to branch (pause) and chatters and flips its tail when it’s excited (pause)…” 

Finally one little boy tentatively raised his hand. 

The pastor breathed a sigh of relief and called on little Johnny. 

“Well…,” said Johnny, “I know the answer must be Jesus…but is sure sounds like a squirrel!”

In my younger years, I would get annoyed with people who had a tendency, in their well-meaning manner, to somehow connect Jesus as THE answer to any question that had me baffled in life. I felt that there had to be something more tangible to grasp, something I could see, something I could do, rather than to passively let Jesus take care of whatever it was that was bothering me at the time. I felt I was just being brushed off. Then an interesting thing happened. I grew up...and do you know what I discovered? Those well-meaning people and their answer that I thought was a brush off were absolutely right! 

In fact, in John 14:6, Jesus refers to Himself as "the way, and the truth, and the life..." 

He doesn't leave much leeway in that statement. So may I offer a suggestion? What are your questions in life? What has you troubled? Let Jesus be THE answer. I'm not saying to test Him, but I am suggesting that you give Him the chance to work on your behalf. Let Him fight your battles. Let Him be your guide in all that's hazy and confusing. Let Jesus be YOUR answer.