Dealing with Doubt
At some stage almost every believer in Christ has had doubts about their faith. Whether it was when you were a formative believer, or after a conversation you had with someone who challenged your faith and you couldn’t answer them, odds are you may have experienced feelings of doubt. For many, these doubts can persist and pop up every now again-even when they are spiritually mature Christians. The purpose of this devotional is to give hope to anyone who finds themselves in this predicament. Dealing with occasional doubt is normal… in fact, you are in pretty good company if you find yourself feeling that way! Learning how to deal with these feelings can help provide you with comfort when you find yourself feeling challenged.
Thomas the Apostle is famous for doubting that Christ was indeed risen. He said …”Unless I 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” (John 20:25 NASB). Next, Christ famously says to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing. Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (John 20:27-28 NASB). At this point, most conversations about Thomas stop and we are left to believe he was the “loser” apostle who doubted Christ rose from the cross. But, if we continue reading, here is what is said: “30Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30-31 NASB).
Upon closer inspection in verse 30 you read that Jesus performed other signs in the presence of the disciples. If it was clear to all of the disciples that Jesus was alive, why did Jesus perform other miracles in front of them? The reason is because he was giving them confidence that He was alive, that He was and is who He claimed to be. Further, in verse 31 John writes that these were written (the signs) “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” If Thomas was being castigated for wanting evidence of Christ’s resurrection, why then would Christ continue to give the very same evidence to other groups of people? Indeed, “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (John 20:29 NASB). But, I would submit to you that Thomas, and others like him, are not admonished for wanting evidence, that is the very reason Christ performed miracles to people before after his resurrection-to give them evidence and reason for their hope in Him.
Another example of Christ ministering to his disciples to instill confidence in them occurs in Acts 1:3. Here, Luke writes that Christ “presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3 NASB). The reason Christ did this was to remove doubt from the minds of his followers-to give them confidence and equip them for further ministry. Later, in Acts 17:2-3 Luke writes, “And according to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead..” This example of Paul’s teaching style shows that he used and gave evidence to support his claims of why Jesus is Lord.
Throughout the bible many evidences are given to encourage believers and give them confidence that Christ is who he claimed to be. Occasionally struggling with your faith is normal, we all don’t have answers for every question that arises. We may even occasionally doubt that our spouses love us, or that our friends, family, or coworkers accept and care about us. But what changes these negative thoughts? Over time our spouses demonstrate their love for us, our friends demonstrate they care about us-assuaging our doubts that we no longer mattered to them as before. When you feel like your faith is being challenged, prepare yourself ahead of time with knowledge and spiritual armor. You do this by reading the bible (Ephesians 6:10-20 talks about strengthening yourself by knowing the Word of God) and, if you find yourself curious if other written works support the evidences in the bible, there are plenty of extra-biblical materials you can read which validate the historicity of Christ, his claims, and the apostles experiences.
Think of all of the verses in the bible that say you can know you have saving faith-it is demonstrated throughout the text. Know that having occasional doubts about what you believe does not mean you are not saved. Paul says in Romans 10:9-10 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved…” When you have doubts ask for help with addressing them-odds are you are not the only one who has had that doubt before. Christianity has stood the test of time because it is true-it is the best explanation for the way things are.
I encourage you to learn why you believe as you do. Study, learn-even a little about the many powerful evidences supporting Christianity and you won’t be wishing on a star that your belief is true-you will have confidence in it and be able to manage your doubts as they come up. Remember that Christ never asked us to have “blind” faith, he gave us evidence to believe in.