John 13:7
I feel like whole seasons of my life could be described by Jesus’ response to Peter. As we have discussed this week in these blog posts, there is much that I (we) cannot and will not understand, perhaps ever (or at least on this side of eternity). Most of our time together this week has focused on the heart-level steps to addressing our doubt, but as we conclude, I would like to offer a couple of thoughts on a practical component of dealing with doubt. (You can find more on this in the last chapter of Lee Strobel’s A Case for Faith and in Timothy Keller’s, The Reason for God: Belief in and Age of Skepticism.)
Here are a couple of thoughts:
1. Do I want to believe or not?
For me, this is often times a necessary question. I need to go through the work of checking myself to determine if my doubt is of my own making. Let’s be honest, choosing to believe comes with ramifications as well. It impacts the way I live my life and confronting my own doubt must begin with introspection— that simple and yet difficult prayer of David that says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart…”
2. Go where faith is.
During seasons of doubt and skepticism, my default reaction is to withdraw. I wrongly believe that if my faith is not strong and I am struggling to believe, then I need to wait until I am in a better place before reengaging the body of Christ. (On a side note, this is exactly the mistake that Thomas makes in John 20. When Jesus appears to the disciples following the Resurrection, Thomas is not there. He misses this moment of celebration and restoration and instead dives deeper into unbelief and doubt.) I have heard this expressed in a variety of different ways over the years but it is a common reaction.
Our response needs to be exactly the opposite. When doubt is at its worst in our lives, our need to be surrounded by the body of Christ is greater— a place where faith is strong. We will all experience moments when our faith is weak and we will need to be carried by those whose faith is strong. And there will be times when our faith is solid and we will support those who require sustainment during the desert of doubt.
3. Put your faith into action.
In order for God to validate our faith we need to act on our faith. This is often times a conscious act of our will rather than a motivation born out of desire. Again, this is contrary to the response that inevitably results from skepticism. In Psalm 34:8 David writes, “Taste and see that the Lord is good…” It is the tangible experience that comes from faith put into action.
As we conclude our conversation on processing doubt, I want to reiterate that everything we have discussed is just a part of the puzzle. Your experience of a journey in faith and doubt will be different than everyone else’s. What I do know to be is true for each one of us, is that doubt is not meant to be faced alone.
2. Go where faith is.
During seasons of doubt and skepticism, my default reaction is to withdraw. I wrongly believe that if my faith is not strong and I am struggling to believe, then I need to wait until I am in a better place before reengaging the body of Christ. (On a side note, this is exactly the mistake that Thomas makes in John 20. When Jesus appears to the disciples following the Resurrection, Thomas is not there. He misses this moment of celebration and restoration and instead dives deeper into unbelief and doubt.) I have heard this expressed in a variety of different ways over the years but it is a common reaction.
Our response needs to be exactly the opposite. When doubt is at its worst in our lives, our need to be surrounded by the body of Christ is greater— a place where faith is strong. We will all experience moments when our faith is weak and we will need to be carried by those whose faith is strong. And there will be times when our faith is solid and we will support those who require sustainment during the desert of doubt.
3. Put your faith into action.
In order for God to validate our faith we need to act on our faith. This is often times a conscious act of our will rather than a motivation born out of desire. Again, this is contrary to the response that inevitably results from skepticism. In Psalm 34:8 David writes, “Taste and see that the Lord is good…” It is the tangible experience that comes from faith put into action.
As we conclude our conversation on processing doubt, I want to reiterate that everything we have discussed is just a part of the puzzle. Your experience of a journey in faith and doubt will be different than everyone else’s. What I do know to be is true for each one of us, is that doubt is not meant to be faced alone.
Pastor Sterling Moore
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3 comments:
I can't tell you how encouraging it is to know that you, who has been called to ministry and walks, talks and breathes it on a daily basis, also has times of doubt. Thank you so much for sharing this and giving me concrete and practical ways to walk through it.
Keep it up!
Thank you for your transparency in this encouraging discussion. One aspect of this discussion needs a little clarification, at least for me. It’s the way we are using the word “believe”. When Thomas says "Unless I shall see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe", is his statement of “not believe” to be interpreted as a loss of faith and therefore a loss of Thomas’ salvation? Or, are we to think that Thomas’ faith was never truly genuine and saving? Or, is the “not believe” a statement of Thomas’ sinful doubt to which God as his loving Father will chastise and gently turn His child back to the truth allowing Thomas to repent and be restored to relationship with his Savior? For Thomas, I think the latter is true because Jesus only identified one impostor (Judas) in the disciples. But for us, it could be either. We believe that once genuinely saved, we persevere and 1 Jn 2.19 reminds us that those who don’t persevere in the faith were never really Christians at all. So, if our doubts are really turning into unbelief, we do need to examine ourselves to see if we are really in the faith.
Dave - you make a very important observation and distinction between doubt and unbelief. Too many Christians think that doubting is wrong, or that God is displeased with them if they have doubts.
Notice that Jesus never condemns Thomas for his doubts. Instead, He meets him at the very place of his doubts and invites him to a deeper faith. Frederich Buechner, in his book "The Alphabet of Grace", has written that the opposite of faith is not doubt, it is fear. I think he is right on this point.
The most commonly given command is Scripture is don't be afraid, not don't doubt. The Bible does not condemn those who doubt, but it does show God calling people to faith in the midst of their doubt, and to a deeper faith as result of dealing with those doubts. Genesis 15 is a beautiful story of how God deals with Abram in the midst of his doubts, I particularly love the fact that God takes him out for a midnight walk to stargaze (Gen. 15:5).
In the case of Thomas, his specific doubt was in the bodily resurrection of Jesus. It is not clear if he was "saved" before he saw and touched the resurrected Jesus, and in a way it is irrelevant, because he certainly was saved afterward! This is the point, Jesus met Thomas at the place of his doubt and gave him what he needed to believe and be saved - and he does the same thing for you and me today!
Pastor Jeff
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