The Curious Christian

Curiosity is such a childish word, right? Not so fast. Just because we grow up doesn’t mean we should lose our wonder at the world, or the people around us. When we do, we lose so much because curious is how God made us to be.

My friend Barnabas Piper is on to something here. Without curiosity a Christian’s life is incomplete. “Without curiosity he can never discover deep things, deep connections God tucked below the banal surface of life.”

In his new book, Piper explores what curiosity is, and how it affects relationships. Here are a few good quotes!

• Curiosity is more than a mere trait. It is a discipline, a skill, a habit – one that will expand your life in magnificent, if subtle, ways.
• Imagination guides and shapes our use of information.
• God is echoed in rhythms of music, meter of poems, strokes of brush, taps of a hammer, numbers on a pivot table, laughs with a friend, fantastical fiction, icicles, acorns, sweet tea, oak trees, walleye, alloy metals, espresso, and cirrus clouds.
• You and I were created to create and discover, created for the vocation of reflecting God’s image.
• Curiosity combined with courage presses in and digs deeper in relationship.
• If curiosity is not increasing our joy and capacity for enjoyment then something is amiss.
• Curiosity is a hunger to know more truth so that we can show people more truth so that our world will see more of God.
• Curious people create more, find better solutions to problems, overcome challenges, meet needs that arise, make connections, and prepare better for the future.
• Open-mindedness, at its best, is humility and grace blended with curiosity – but not without conviction.
• The Christian faith should be curious, not blind. It should be full of questions, not fear questions.
• True curiosity is the pursuit of truth, the exploration of God’s creation and will for the world.
• Questions are the currency of curiosity. But unlike other currency there is no withdrawal limit and they multiply themselves. Spend liberally.

Be curious. By all means, invest the time to read this book.