In Week One of WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY, we spoke if we want to be happy, we need to love people more than things.

Road Trip – Week 1

“I don’t know.” These three little words can be really difficult to say sometimes. Especially in response to some of the questions our middle schoolers ask about God, the Bible, and their faith. It can be tough not having all the answers, but not having all the answers is actually part of God’s plan.

The church at Philippi felt this same tension. Paul, one of the early Christians, addressed this in a letter he wrote to them. He encouraged the church to continue following Jesus, even if not everything made sense. Essentially, he said, “I don’t know, but let’s see if we can figure it out together.”

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose (Philippians 2:12-13 NIV).

In these verses, Paul gave us permission to not always have the answers we think we should. He said God is working in us. We’re under construction. We haven’t arrived yet. In fact, that’s kind of the point. Paul instructed the believers in Philippi to “work out their salvation.” What he meant was for them to take time to consider who God is and how their faith should be lived out.  

This week and all throughout this Road Trip series (and even in the months and years to come!), you might have questions about faith to which your small group leaders may not know the answers, and if that happens…guess what when this happens, practice, as a group, saying, “I don’t know, but let’s take some time to figure that out together.”