“Simon, son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” John 21:15a

Jesus often used questions to drive home a point or to force people to think through an issue, like He did with Peter in this passage helping him understand what was really important in God’s economy.  Below is a short description from a friend illustrating how the use of a question helped address one of those important issues with his grandson that needed to be addressed.

I recently spent an evening with my grandson.  My grandson constantly used his cell phone to send text messages throughout the evening, even during a movie we went to together.  Irritated, I was prepared to lecture him, but then I thought of a question instead: “I’m going to ask you a question I want you to think about and we’ll talk about it later.  Were you with me tonight as we spent time together?”

My grandson went home and began a conversation with his family, who also continuously texted.  The next week he apologized to me for not being with him and pledged to cut back on his texting.  That opened up a conversation about what it means to be with someone…and much more.

While we are never guaranteed such good results, asking questions will usually produce more positive results than lecturing our grandchildren about things we find irritating or irresponsible.  It really was a brilliant question, the kind of question we should learn to use more often…like Jesus.

GRANDPAUSE: Men give advice; God gives guidance. Leonard Ravenhill