At one time in our society the search for truth reigned supreme. If you could show that something was true, then you had won the day. But a strange thing has happened in our post modern situation. Not only is there a cynicism regarding the existence of any kind of absolute truth, there is also a complacency about the whole matter.
In his book ‘A Life That Matters’, Ron Hutchcraft talks about a story that Ravi Zacharias tells. Ravi had just addressed a large crowd at an Ivy League university where he had presented a powerful case for Christianity and one of his associates was debating with four students who had stayed behind. The four of them argued while Ravi’s friend skillfully answered every objection they raised. Finally, after about an hour had passed, one of the students, who seemed to speak for the others comes out with this – “To be honest with you, I think most of what that man had to say is true – And I don’t care.”!!!
What an incredible admission that is! It illustrates very profoundly where so many people are at in these days we live in. It isn’t just that people don’t believe. They don’t care!!!
So what should we do? Give up? I don’t think so. That’s where people are at but we need to meet them where they are at. Like Jesus did. People in this day and age are very pragmatic. They might not care about what is ‘true’, but they care very much about what works and what doesn’t. People don’t want to acknowledge that truth exists because they want be a law unto themselves. However, they can’t escape the consequences. They may not care about what is true but they want to be happy because everyone wants to be happy. Everyone wants to have a good life or what they perceive to be a good life. And so, this must become our starting point with people. It is the crack in their armor that makes them vulnerable to the truth. For as they say, what works might not always be true, but what is true always works.
Of course we need to be careful with this line of approach. We don’t want to paint some kind of rosy gospel … “come to Jesus and all your problems will just go away and life will become easy”. But having said that, we do believe that living by the principles of the truth of God’s word does tend to make for a better life. There is a natural cause and effect. Sin is how life doesn’t work; how life wasn’t designed to work. There is an inherent reward in doing what is right. What is right and what is wise are inseparable.
The woman at the well (John 4) is just one example of how sin doesn’t work. We don’t know for sure the cause of all her relational failure but there is at least an intimation in the text that she was going about relationships all wrong. She was living life her way instead of God’s way which is what sin is. To quote Ron Hutchcraft, “every man was a well for her but she always came up thirsty… Thirsty again, that’s how every earth-relationship, earth-accomplishment and earth-possession leaves us in our souls.”
Yes, we need to be careful with this. Though I disagree with the criticisms often leveled against appealing to ‘felt needs’ they are not completely without merit. Most criticisms have some truth to them. We need to be careful. As Ron says in his book on page 157, “There is, however, a danger in beginning with a person’s felt need: you may skip the cancer and go right to the cure. ‘You’re lonely – and Jesus loves you. You’re searching – and Jesus is the answer.’ But Jesus did not die to rescue us from our loneliness or our depression or our emptiness. He died to rescue us from our sins…Jesus started with the Samaritan woman’s ‘felt need’ but He did use it to lead into a conversation that included the subject of sin.”
So, we need to proceed with caution. But we need to proceed. Because we need to meet people where they are at. Jesus met this woman at her point of need and then he used that ‘felt need’ to point to the greater issue – sin as the problem and Himself as the solution. Our goal should be to try and help people to the place where they are willing to consider the reason for the pain in their lives. This isn’t about just ‘treating the symptoms’. This is about using the symptoms to direct people to the cure. If people can get to the place where they are willing to consider that there is something really wrong then maybe they will be more willing to consider the one true Cure – a personal relationship with Christ that begins with His forgiveness.
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