Are You Having Doubts About God?

He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?” (Luke 24:38)

Have you ever doubted your faith? We all have doubts from time to time. We may doubt that our best friend really caught a fish as big as the one he claimed to catch, or the strange looking guy on that late night TV show was really abducted by alien beings from a distant galaxy!

Sometimes the things we doubt aren’t really that important, but other times they are. And the more important something is to us, the more personally invested we are in it, the scarier it can be to start having doubts about it. So when Christians begin to have doubts about something as significant as the truth of their Christian faith, it’s quite understandable that this might worry or even frighten them.

Reflecting on this issue in The Case for Faith, Lee Strobel wrote:

“For many Christians, merely having doubts of any kind can be scary. They wonder whether their questions disqualify them being a follower of Christ. They feel insecure because they’re not sure whether it’s permissible to express uncertainty about God, Jesus, or the Bible. So they keep their questions to themselves—and inside, unanswered, they grow and fester . . . until they eventually succeed in choking out their faith. (1)

For those who have experienced the love and grace of God, it's difficult to understand how anyone would have doubts about the Messiah.  Yet, they do every day.  Some simply believe that the things the world has to offer are more appealing than eternal things. (See Matt 19:16-23)

For others it's a matter of pride.  They will never bow and relinquish lordship of their lives to anyone else, least of all Jesus Christ.

“You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!”  (Acts 7:51) 

And then there are those who truly do not think they need a savior.  These people consider themselves to be “basically good” and don't realize that they, like all people, are sinners who cannot come to God on their own terms. (See Romans 3:23)  But Jesus stated quite clearly that, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) 

Everyone at some time in their lives has doubts.  But, praise God, He understands our doubts, and the most important thing I can tell you is that He wants to take them away and increase our faith.  When doubts come, don’t let them take root in your heart.  Instead, turn them over to Christ. 

Most of all, saturate your heart and mind every day with the truths of God’s Word.  Thank God, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." (Hebrews 6:19a)

(1) Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2000), 316.

 

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