Focus 4 | The Answer You Wanted
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Consider this ice breaker as you gather for the Spotlight.
Would you rather live 100 years in the past or 100 years in the future?
Would you rather live 100 years in the past or 100 years in the future?
See what this Spotlight—and series—is focused on.
Tap on the words "Focus 4" in the image below to read this Spotlight's summary.
Tap on the words "Focus 4" in the image below to read this Spotlight's summary.
Let’s talk about the number 42.
Listen to this audio clip when you’re ready to begin today’s Spotlight. (And welcome, by the way! It’s great that you’re here!)
Listen to this audio clip when you’re ready to begin today’s Spotlight. (And welcome, by the way! It’s great that you’re here!)
Consider 3 times people asked the wrong question.
“The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers,
but it takes a creative mind to spot wrong questions.”
Sir Antony Jay
There’s almost nothing worse than working hard to find the answer and finally finding that answer only to find out that you were asking the wrong question all along.
Read about three different times exactly that happened:
In 2014, along with the launch of a new iPhone and the first ever Apple Watch, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that every iTunes user would receive—free of charge—the newest U2 album, Songs of Innocence.
The question they seemed to be asking was, “How excited will people be by this free album?”
The question they should have asked: “How excited will people be by a free album?” (And the answer would have been quite excited as long as they can choose it.) Instead, thousands of non-U2 fans found themselves with an album they didn’t want that was almost impossible to remove from their devices.
Wrong question, wrong answer.
In chapter nine of the book of John, Jesus and his disciples see a man who was born blind. The disciples ask Jesus who had sinned—the man or his parents—that he had been born blind.
This was the wrong question, and neither of the options they gave was true. This man was born blind—period. The good news, and the thing the disciples should have asked about, was that God in Jesus would show his power and love by healing that man in a way that wouldn’t have been possible had the man not been blind.
The best follow-up question to that? “How else do you love that blind man?” Jesus’ answer, of course, would be this: “I have forgiven his sins, and he is now my brother.”
This one is, of course, the most dangerous. The right question would have been, “I was bitten by a turtle when I was a young lad. Why don’t I know karate?”
“The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers,
but it takes a creative mind to spot wrong questions.”
Sir Antony Jay
There’s almost nothing worse than working hard to find the answer and finally finding that answer only to find out that you were asking the wrong question all along.
Read about three different times exactly that happened:
In 2014, along with the launch of a new iPhone and the first ever Apple Watch, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that every iTunes user would receive—free of charge—the newest U2 album, Songs of Innocence.
The question they seemed to be asking was, “How excited will people be by this free album?”
The question they should have asked: “How excited will people be by a free album?” (And the answer would have been quite excited as long as they can choose it.) Instead, thousands of non-U2 fans found themselves with an album they didn’t want that was almost impossible to remove from their devices.
Wrong question, wrong answer.
In chapter nine of the book of John, Jesus and his disciples see a man who was born blind. The disciples ask Jesus who had sinned—the man or his parents—that he had been born blind.
This was the wrong question, and neither of the options they gave was true. This man was born blind—period. The good news, and the thing the disciples should have asked about, was that God in Jesus would show his power and love by healing that man in a way that wouldn’t have been possible had the man not been blind.
The best follow-up question to that? “How else do you love that blind man?” Jesus’ answer, of course, would be this: “I have forgiven his sins, and he is now my brother.”
This one is, of course, the most dangerous. The right question would have been, “I was bitten by a turtle when I was a young lad. Why don’t I know karate?”
Welcome Perspective
The correct answer makes no sense
to someone who asks the wrong question.
The correct answer makes no sense
to someone who asks the wrong question.
Interact with this presentation to consider what God has for you.
The Bible’s story of Job is remarkable. Pain, doubt, questions, misinformation, and faith are all met with the same thing: The answer of the Almighty. In each part of this series, you’ll walk with a different character from the story through their thoughts.
You heard from Job during the first week of this series (you can check that out here). You heard from his terrible friends during the second week (you can check that out here). You heard from a young man named Elihu in the third week (you can check that out here). Finally, hear from the voice of God.
(Also, if you’d like an excellent, quick summary of Job’s story, click here.)
Can you find the point in these words? Before you interact with this image, get out some way to take notes—hopefully, one you’ve used for this entire series. As you interact, write down one or two ways God is showing love and compassion even though Job is suffering. (In other words, when he sees Job’s suffering, how is he explaining what’s going on?)
The Bible’s story of Job is remarkable. Pain, doubt, questions, misinformation, and faith are all met with the same thing: The answer of the Almighty. In each part of this series, you’ll walk with a different character from the story through their thoughts.
You heard from Job during the first week of this series (you can check that out here). You heard from his terrible friends during the second week (you can check that out here). You heard from a young man named Elihu in the third week (you can check that out here). Finally, hear from the voice of God.
(Also, if you’d like an excellent, quick summary of Job’s story, click here.)
Can you find the point in these words? Before you interact with this image, get out some way to take notes—hopefully, one you’ve used for this entire series. As you interact, write down one or two ways God is showing love and compassion even though Job is suffering. (In other words, when he sees Job’s suffering, how is he explaining what’s going on?)
Listen to and consider these two tremendously contrasting songs.
God comes to Job, and he answers all of Job’s questions with a set of his own questions. This is a great depiction of what it looks like to ask God a question and to hear back from him.
If God is truly God, and if he is truly loving, then he will answer accordingly. On the one hand, he is God—in a position you do not hold, understanding what you do not know, and never being unable to control what is going on. At the same time, he wants to love you—he wants to have a two-way relationship with you, and he’ll do all he can to make that relationship happen.
First, listen to these two songs. As you listen, notice that they both ring true, even if they are vastly different in tone.
Then discuss this (if doing this Spotlight in a group) after listening: How can that contrast help your perspective on God’s approach to your questions?
God comes to Job, and he answers all of Job’s questions with a set of his own questions. This is a great depiction of what it looks like to ask God a question and to hear back from him.
If God is truly God, and if he is truly loving, then he will answer accordingly. On the one hand, he is God—in a position you do not hold, understanding what you do not know, and never being unable to control what is going on. At the same time, he wants to love you—he wants to have a two-way relationship with you, and he’ll do all he can to make that relationship happen.
First, listen to these two songs. As you listen, notice that they both ring true, even if they are vastly different in tone.
Then discuss this (if doing this Spotlight in a group) after listening: How can that contrast help your perspective on God’s approach to your questions?
Seek the love in answers.
You neither need nor deserve the answers God gives you. It may feel like you need them, but you don’t.
(The proof of this is that you don’t have them now, and you’re still going to be OK.)
In fact, it is often true that the answers you seek aren’t even what’s 100% best for you.
(But because God loves you and doesn’t spend time controlling you, he still gives them to you.)
Every answer is an invitation to love and be loved, along with being a reminder that God knows the answers even to the questions you will never think of.
You neither need nor deserve the answers God gives you. It may feel like you need them, but you don’t.
(The proof of this is that you don’t have them now, and you’re still going to be OK.)
In fact, it is often true that the answers you seek aren’t even what’s 100% best for you.
(But because God loves you and doesn’t spend time controlling you, he still gives them to you.)
Every answer is an invitation to love and be loved, along with being a reminder that God knows the answers even to the questions you will never think of.
Worship Perspective
Nevertheless, God answers our little questions—
just because he loves.
Nevertheless, God answers our little questions—
just because he loves.
Determine when being right is wrong.
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels,
but do not have love,
I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have a faith that can move mountains,
but do not have love,
I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,
but do not have love,
I gain nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:1–3
Answers for the sake of answers (that is, answers not for the sake of love) are wrong, even when they are right. The motivation behind the answer is as important as the answer itself.
It’s common to think of an answer as either right or wrong. Most answers are, in fact, either right or wrong, but simply being right does not make an answer good. As you might imagine, God is all about good answers. To be good, an answer must be both CORRECT and LOVING.
Plot out the following examples of being right. (Below is a list of hypothetical “answers” that might be given. For each, guess where it belongs on the chart above, then click “see the answers” below to see how you did.)
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels,
but do not have love,
I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have a faith that can move mountains,
but do not have love,
I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,
but do not have love,
I gain nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:1–3
Answers for the sake of answers (that is, answers not for the sake of love) are wrong, even when they are right. The motivation behind the answer is as important as the answer itself.
It’s common to think of an answer as either right or wrong. Most answers are, in fact, either right or wrong, but simply being right does not make an answer good. As you might imagine, God is all about good answers. To be good, an answer must be both CORRECT and LOVING.
Plot out the following examples of being right. (Below is a list of hypothetical “answers” that might be given. For each, guess where it belongs on the chart above, then click “see the answers” below to see how you did.)
- A nation is struggling to manage racial tensions between people groups and concludes that an “unacceptable” group of that nation’s citizens must be killed for the safety of the country.
- A church wants to encourage people to give generously to support the ministry and decides to post pictures of every who hasn’t given in the past year on a bulletin board.
- Parents of a teenage girl don’t care for her boyfriend and so they pay him to break up with her and stay away.
- A brother discovers that his sister’s husband is cheating on her. He confronts the husband, telling him that if he ends it now he won’t say anything so she never has to find out because it would hurt her so much to know.
- Parents of a toddler don’t want the child to eat anymore 6-month old Halloween candy, so they throw the bag of candy away. When the child asks for some, they say the dog got into it and ate it all.
- A group of anti-abortion activists pickets outside an abortion doctor’s house with signs that say “Murderer” and “Pure Evil.”
Identify the problems with never-ending carrot stew.
God is always “love first,” and his love will never end or run out. That being said, his love doesn’t always look like you want it to look—but that doesn’t mean it isn’t love. You might think of God’s love as the carrot stew in the brief story below.
Consider these questions as you read on:
I grew up like most rabbits. Life was hard, there were always more and more mouths to feed. We were always having to steal all our food and being chased around by farmers and dogs and foxes and whatnot. It wasn’t pleasant, or easy, or fun, but then, one day, my sister came home with something big to share with us.
“There’s a neverending pot of carrot stew! It never ends! You can always have more and more of it and we’ll never have to be hungry and we won’t have to worry about foxes and whatnot because there’s carrot stew!” She always talked kind of fast, but she was a rabbit. Can you imagine one that talks slow?
Needless to say, this news was received with some skepticism from the family. “Carrot stew, you say?” “Why haven’t I heard of it?” “I’m sure there’s a lot, but it can’t be neverending. That’s impossible.” “I’ll believe it when you bring me some.” “What if I want turnip stew?”
My sister went on to explain that the Great Rabbit had a pot of neverending carrot stew cooking, slowly and surely, in a great big pot deep in an old cave. Any rabbit is welcome, any time, to come to get a bowl as big or small as she pleases, and when she does the Great Rabbit always smiles and says, “Enjoy!” (It’s as if every bowl is the first he’s ever been able to share.)
Our interest piqued, the family set out to the cave of the Great Rabbit. When we arrived, my father and mother and aunts and uncles all realized they’d been here before, when they were young and there had been some bad years for crops. They seemed surprised there was still stew, and when they tasted it, they shared a knowing look. “Same old carrot stew,” they said.
I tried it, too. It was as good a carrot stew as I could imagine. I came back every day for a week, but then, on the eighth day… I stayed home since I was craving fresh lettuce.
God is always “love first,” and his love will never end or run out. That being said, his love doesn’t always look like you want it to look—but that doesn’t mean it isn’t love. You might think of God’s love as the carrot stew in the brief story below.
Consider these questions as you read on:
- How, over time, might carrot stew become unsatisfying?
- How, over time, might the carrot stew seem to be unloving?
- When the narrator rabbit decided he didn’t want to go get more stew, of whom did he fail to think?
I grew up like most rabbits. Life was hard, there were always more and more mouths to feed. We were always having to steal all our food and being chased around by farmers and dogs and foxes and whatnot. It wasn’t pleasant, or easy, or fun, but then, one day, my sister came home with something big to share with us.
“There’s a neverending pot of carrot stew! It never ends! You can always have more and more of it and we’ll never have to be hungry and we won’t have to worry about foxes and whatnot because there’s carrot stew!” She always talked kind of fast, but she was a rabbit. Can you imagine one that talks slow?
Needless to say, this news was received with some skepticism from the family. “Carrot stew, you say?” “Why haven’t I heard of it?” “I’m sure there’s a lot, but it can’t be neverending. That’s impossible.” “I’ll believe it when you bring me some.” “What if I want turnip stew?”
My sister went on to explain that the Great Rabbit had a pot of neverending carrot stew cooking, slowly and surely, in a great big pot deep in an old cave. Any rabbit is welcome, any time, to come to get a bowl as big or small as she pleases, and when she does the Great Rabbit always smiles and says, “Enjoy!” (It’s as if every bowl is the first he’s ever been able to share.)
Our interest piqued, the family set out to the cave of the Great Rabbit. When we arrived, my father and mother and aunts and uncles all realized they’d been here before, when they were young and there had been some bad years for crops. They seemed surprised there was still stew, and when they tasted it, they shared a knowing look. “Same old carrot stew,” they said.
I tried it, too. It was as good a carrot stew as I could imagine. I came back every day for a week, but then, on the eighth day… I stayed home since I was craving fresh lettuce.
Let’s review this series—let’s take a look at every section’s takeaway.
The graphic below charts out the key takeaways from every section of each Spotlight in this series. (You can click on the image to enlarge it if needed.)
The graphic below charts out the key takeaways from every section of each Spotlight in this series. (You can click on the image to enlarge it if needed.)
Learn Perspective
When the answers aren’t for the benefit of our faith,
they’re really there to help us love better.
When the answers aren’t for the benefit of our faith,
they’re really there to help us love better.
Discover 1,000 right answers.
Even before they call, I will answer;
while they are still speaking, I will hear.
Isaiah 65:24
Over the course of this series, you’ve had the chance to get acquainted with one big, very real, and very important question that a lot of people are asking: How should we handle the pandemic response’s impact on education?
There are “1,000 right answers” to this question, and schools, parents, and students are going to be discovering them in the coming years. Every good answer and every good effort toward serving students better is a gift of God.
Below are links to articles that include approaches being taken to getting education back into full swing and helping kids recover from any ways in which they may have fallen behind.
Take a look at any one of these articles and share with your group what you find. (The big-picture goal here is to simply celebrate—no need to analyze or criticize—the diversity of solutions that can exist for a question like this.)
God loves, and he does so in a variety of ways from one person, problem, or pain-point to another.
Even before they call, I will answer;
while they are still speaking, I will hear.
Isaiah 65:24
Over the course of this series, you’ve had the chance to get acquainted with one big, very real, and very important question that a lot of people are asking: How should we handle the pandemic response’s impact on education?
There are “1,000 right answers” to this question, and schools, parents, and students are going to be discovering them in the coming years. Every good answer and every good effort toward serving students better is a gift of God.
Below are links to articles that include approaches being taken to getting education back into full swing and helping kids recover from any ways in which they may have fallen behind.
Take a look at any one of these articles and share with your group what you find. (The big-picture goal here is to simply celebrate—no need to analyze or criticize—the diversity of solutions that can exist for a question like this.)
God loves, and he does so in a variety of ways from one person, problem, or pain-point to another.
Feel free to submit a prayer request by filling out the below form.
(If you choose to make your request public, you'll see it display in the Current at the end of the Spotlight along with anyone else who did the same.)
(If you choose to make your request public, you'll see it display in the Current at the end of the Spotlight along with anyone else who did the same.)
Pray through your requests—together—as a group.
After submitting your requests in the above form, take some time to share with your group whatever requests the group might have for this week.
After submitting your requests in the above form, take some time to share with your group whatever requests the group might have for this week.
Serve Perspective
Whatever you do,
use the lesser answers
in serving the big love.
Whatever you do,
use the lesser answers
in serving the big love.
Meditate on the goodness of when questions seek love.
It is good for you to ask questions, but those questions should seek to understand and promote love. It is good for the Almighty to answer, and when he does whatever he says will be said in love.
Read this slightly modified version of 1 Corinthians 13, the famous “love” chapter from the Bible.
(If you’re doing this Spotlight in a group, rotate readers line by line, in chronological order of birthdate.)
If I ask in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have questions seeking love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have questions seeking love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have questions seeking love, I gain nothing.
Questions seeking love are patient, questions seeking love are kind.
They do not envy, they do not boast, they are not proud.
They do not dishonor others, they are not self-seeking, they are not easily angered, they keep no record of wrongs.
Questions seeking love do not delight in evil but rejoice with the truth.
They always protect, always trust, always hope, always persevere.
Questions seeking love never fail. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.
Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
It is good for you to ask questions, but those questions should seek to understand and promote love. It is good for the Almighty to answer, and when he does whatever he says will be said in love.
Read this slightly modified version of 1 Corinthians 13, the famous “love” chapter from the Bible.
(If you’re doing this Spotlight in a group, rotate readers line by line, in chronological order of birthdate.)
If I ask in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have questions seeking love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have questions seeking love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have questions seeking love, I gain nothing.
Questions seeking love are patient, questions seeking love are kind.
They do not envy, they do not boast, they are not proud.
They do not dishonor others, they are not self-seeking, they are not easily angered, they keep no record of wrongs.
Questions seeking love do not delight in evil but rejoice with the truth.
They always protect, always trust, always hope, always persevere.
Questions seeking love never fail. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.
Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Listen to this song as we close today.
This song sums up the experience of asking honest questions and letting the Almighty answer with these words: “All of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions, eclipsed by glory.”
Job experienced this when the powerful reality that God “knelt and answered” him put his questions into perspective. When God’s love assures your faith, the weight of your questions is lifted and the questions themselves, which are still significant and important, are given new meaning. It’s not a quest to find out how to be God, how to love God, or how to fix God. It’s a quest to find out how—even in this question, context, or moment—God loves you.
This song sums up the experience of asking honest questions and letting the Almighty answer with these words: “All of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions, eclipsed by glory.”
Job experienced this when the powerful reality that God “knelt and answered” him put his questions into perspective. When God’s love assures your faith, the weight of your questions is lifted and the questions themselves, which are still significant and important, are given new meaning. It’s not a quest to find out how to be God, how to love God, or how to fix God. It’s a quest to find out how—even in this question, context, or moment—God loves you.
Lyrics from How He Loves by John Mark McMillan
He is jealous for me—
loves like a hurricane.
I am a tree
bending beneath
the weight of his wind and mercy
when all of a sudden
I am unaware of these
afflictions eclipsed by glory,
and I realize just how beautiful you are
and how great your affections are for me.
Oh, how he loves us so—
oh, how he loves us—
how he loves us so.
We are his portion
and he is our prize,
drawn to redemption by the grace in his eyes.
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss
and my heart turns violently inside of my chest.
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets
when I think about the way
he loves us.
Oh, how he loves us—
oh, how he loves us—
how he loves us so.
Yeah, he loves us—
oh, how.
He is jealous for me—
loves like a hurricane.
I am a tree
bending beneath
the weight of his wind and mercy
when all of a sudden
I am unaware of these
afflictions eclipsed by glory,
and I realize just how beautiful you are
and how great your affections are for me.
Oh, how he loves us so—
oh, how he loves us—
how he loves us so.
We are his portion
and he is our prize,
drawn to redemption by the grace in his eyes.
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss
and my heart turns violently inside of my chest.
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets
when I think about the way
he loves us.
Oh, how he loves us—
oh, how he loves us—
how he loves us so.
Yeah, he loves us—
oh, how.
Sing along with (or listen to) this song to close out this Spotlight.
Feel free to sing along or simply listen. Do what makes you comfortable—but do whatever helps you focus on the song's meaning best.
Feel free to sing along or simply listen. Do what makes you comfortable—but do whatever helps you focus on the song's meaning best.
Farewell Perspective
Through your questions,
you’ll either learn how you are loved
or how you can love.
Through your questions,
you’ll either learn how you are loved
or how you can love.
Let's wrap things up by taking a look at what's Current at Illume.
Tap on the buttons in the frame below to see what’s currently happening at Illume—information on everything from current and upcoming online content to live events and opportunities to serve in the community can all be found here.
Tap on the buttons in the frame below to see what’s currently happening at Illume—information on everything from current and upcoming online content to live events and opportunities to serve in the community can all be found here.
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