Risky Curiosity

A friend of mine recently read the book called “Dangerous Wonder: The Adventure of a Childlike Faith” by Mike Yaconelli. When you are a child, you life is full of wonder. You don’t know all the answers to life’s so-called problems, yet that doesn’t bother you. Things intrigue you. You are excited about discovering things. But somewhere along the way, we lose that wonder. We begin to see things through our “grown-up” eyes and things become dull. Our dreams subside and we lose the sparkle in our eyes.

This author said, “Faith has been reduced to a comfortable system of beliefs about God instead of an uncomfortable encounter with God. Childlike faith understands that God is as capable of destroying us as He is of saving us.” Then, he brought up the story of Thomas in the Bible. We’ve all read about “Doubting Thomas”. I have always viewed Thomas as a negative character or a man of no faith. But maybe, he was expressing a childlike faith. Maybe he had risky curiosity.... And that was good.
Yaconelli said that “curiosity is a hunger of the soul, and because Thomas was strong and courageous and spoke bluntly, he was daring to ask tough questions.” Here’s the kicker for me: “He was not refusing to believe, he was refusing to settle for secondhand faith.” Thomas wanted to discover the truth about Jesus for himself. So often, we lose the curiosity of God and settle for a secondhand faith.

I want to give you the freedom to wrestle with God’s truth. Spend some time discovering for yourself who He is. Don’t feel ashamed if you want to ask questions. Jesus welcomed Thomas and He welcomes you.

Sarah Bragg