Dealing with doubts

Dear Church Family,

Have you ever heard something that sounded too good to be true? I’ve often responded to such things with “I’ll believe it when I see it”. An example would be these diet programs where somebody lost 200 pounds in 12 months. If you read the fine print it typically says something like “these results are not typical”. We read that stuff and doubt that it’s true. When it comes to faith and doubting in the life of the Christian, I think we all fall into one of three categories.

There are what I call the “casual believers”. They believe there is a God but they have not surrendered their life to Him. They are the Christmas, Easter believers and attenders. Then there are the “convenient believers”. They will follow Christ as long as it’s convenient. But the first time His claims of Lordship interfere with their plans, they are gone. It’s as if they leverage faith to their benefit. Finally, some are among the “committed believers”. They understand what Paul meant in Galatians 2 when He said he’d been “crucified with Christ”; for them it really is all about Him.


In John 20 we find the disciple named Thomas doubting the resurrection of the Lord. It’s not that he didn’t want to believe, he just needed to see proof before he would or could believe. So maybe you are like Thomas and struggling with doubts, what should you do? Before we look at the answer to that question let me differentiate between doubts and unbelief. Doubt literally means to be undecided or wavering between two opinions. But unbelief is a conscious decision I believe to not believe; to stand against the truth.


To deal with our doubts, first, I think we have to acknowledge the fact we have doubts. Some simply try to ignore them or pretend they aren’t there but that usually will not be sufficient for long. There are various causes or reasons we doubt. For some its intellectualism; they intellectually struggle with what they’ve been taught or believe to be true. For others its emotionalism that produces doubt. They base their faith on their feelings and when their mountain top experiences depart, so does their faith.


Secondly, after admitting our struggles with doubts, we need to turn to God for help. Have you ever considered how many “doubters” there are in the bible? Abraham and Sarah doubted the promise of a child. Moses doubted he was the right man for the job of going to Pharaoh. How many times in the gospels do we read of Jesus saying to the disciples, “Oh ye of little faith”? When we doubt the best thing we can do is be honest with God and bring our doubts to Him.


Back to John 20. Jesus could have busted on Thomas for doubting. He could have said, “I spend 3 years with you and at the first sign of real trouble you doubt?” Jesus doesn’t shame him though, He doesn’t condemn him, He simply meets him where he’s at and comforts him. Maybe what you don’t know is “doubting Thomas” became an incredible Christian taking the gospel to India and ultimately dying a martyrs death for the sake of the gospel. I’m not saying that your doubting could end up in your death for the gospel. But what I want you to see is when you give your doubts to the Lord, maybe it’s not dying for the sake of the gospel but rather living for the sake of the gospel that He calls you to. Something to ponder.