I was working with a client who had a list of points to cover in her book. Good theology and practical advice.
But it was flat.
Tweaking the content—reorganizing chapters, polishing. Still flat.
The breakthrough came when she realized the problem wasn’t the answers she was giving—it was the questions she was asking.
Instead of:
“How do I explain this concept?”
she started asking:
“What’s the real problem my reader is trying to solve?”
Instead of:
“What do I want to teach?”
she asked:
“What transformation am I inviting them into?”
Everything changed then and the book came alive.
I learned about this recently from watching Shane Parrish interview Lulu Chang Maservey on The Knowledge Project. Lulu explained how better questions expose hidden assumptions and open new possibilities.
In writing, questions don’t just shape your research—they shape your reader’s experience.
Most non-fiction writers think the key is having great answers. But the strongest books, articles, and sermons are built on asking the right questions.
What Lulu Taught Me About Questions
Lulu stressed that sharper questions uncover what we don’t even know we’re assuming.
(Here’s Lulu on Substack)
Answers can close a door.
Questions open one.
Questions expose what’s unclear in your thinking or what your audience truly needs. They force you deeper than surface-level advice and get to the heart of what really matters.
When my client shifted from answer-mode to question-mode, her entire book transformed. Instead of delivering information, she began addressing the real struggles her readers were facing.
Shallow Questions vs. Better Questions
But not just any questions will do. They have to be deep questions that get at the heart of the matter.
Here’s what this looks like in practice:
Shallow: “How do I explain this concept?”
Better: “Why should this matter to my reader’s life right now?”
Shallow: “What points do I want to make?”
Better: “What transformation am I inviting my reader into?”
Shallow: “What information should I include?”
Better: “What would my reader miss if I left it out?”
Shallow: “What biblical truth should I teach?”
Better: “What lie is my reader believing that this truth can shatter?”
Notice how better questions shift focus from the writer’s agenda to the reader’s need.
They force you to think about impact, not just content. They cause reader-focused journeys of transformation that will get passed around from one changed reader to the next.
Jesus, the Master of Questions
Jesus modeled the power of questions. He didn’t just deliver information—He used questions to transform hearts and minds.
“Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:15)
“Do you want to be healed?” (John 5:6)
“Man, who made me a judge and arbitrator over you?” (Luke 12:14)
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46)
He rarely handed people easy answers.
He led them to wrestle with reality. His questions exposed what people really believed, what they really wanted, and what was really at stake.
Writers can do the same: use questions to open readers’ hearts to God’s truth—not just deliver theological information.
The Question Audit
Before you write your next chapter or article, try this exercise:
Write down 5 core questions your piece is really asking:
What’s broken in the way my reader sees this issue?
What fear or pain sits beneath their surface objections?
What new way of thinking or living am I pointing them toward?
What would change in their life if they really believed this?
What’s the next step they need to take?
Keep these questions in front of you while you write. Let them guide your examples, word choices, and structure.
Then look at your draft and ask:
“Am I answering questions my readers aren’t asking?“
“Am I missing the ones they’re desperate to have answered?”
The Transformation Shift
Here’s what happens when you build your writing around better questions:
Your content becomes reader-centered instead of you-centered.
Your applications become specific instead of generic, and so they hit the heart.
Your voice stops being preachy and becomes a conversation with a reader that knows you get them and wrote a book because you love them.
Most importantly, your readers begin asking better questions of their own lives.
And that’s where transformation can happen.
Your book doesn’t really transform people, but the questions you ask drive them to Jesus, Who changes people.
Writing isn’t about proving how much you know. It’s about loving and serving your readers—helping them ask better questions of their own lives.
Don’t just answer. Help your reader discover.
What’s the best question someone has asked you that changed your perspective?
Feel free to reply and tell me—I’d love to hear how questions have shaped your thinking.
Blessings,
Jeff
P.S. I’m working at the Christian Businessperson’s Newsletter on a series about slavery in the Bible and what it means for business. The whole project started when I stopped asking, “How do I defend Scripture?” and began asking, “What is God actually trying to teach us here?”
Better questions really do change everything.
Thank you for this. I absolutely love the reframing and thinking of new things. I have learned so much in the power of a question now even in conversations I sit and listen more so I know exactly when it does come time to ask the right question asking better questions more than I speak has been huge. these are amazing questions to ask before writing. It’s funny in my AI I go to edit. I put my article in after I write and then I tell it to ask me three additional questions that I can go deeper in my writing with it’s really changed the way I approach my writing.
I question that I learned recently that had a big impact on me is, “How do you think God sees you in this?”