Christian Doubt? What to Do, Part I
What do you do when you are a follower of the way, you’ve been saved, and you have a church family—and yet you have doubt? You find yourself surrounded by your brothers and sisters who are praising God—and you sit quietly wondering, “Is he really there? Is he real?”
So what are you to do?
First of all, this may come as a shock, you are in amazingly good company…
The Amazing John the Baptist
If you are not familiar with this John, check out his story recorded in the Apostle John’s letter John (I know, there’s a lot of “John’ there). But he’s a wild man.
He’s dressed weird, and he is eating strange foods (locust and wild honey, locally sourced carbon-neutral food?). He’s proclaiming that the long-promised Messiah is arriving, and he also baptizing people—all of which freaked out the religious elite of the day.
There came a day when he sees a dude walking his way and he points and proclaims, “Behold, the Lamb of God who take away the sin of the world!” (Jn. 1:29) He seems to be the first to publicly (as far as we have records of) declare that Yeshua of Nazareth, the carpenter Joseph’s son, was the Savior of the world.
In fact, when asked who he was (John the Baptist himself), he referenced a messianic prophecy from Isaiah; “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.” (Jn. 1:23)
I suppose you could call John the Baptist the first believer, follower, and even “Christian.” He was the first follower with a rock-solid faith, right?
Then he got thrown in prison, and then he rotted there for a while. He sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus a question that every child of God needs to hear:
“Are you the one to come, or shall we look for another? (Mt. 11:3)
Rock solid faith?
You know what, John the Baptist demonstrates a particular truth about life in a skin-sack (we are spiritual beings with temporary bones and skin, you know?): We live in a world that kicks us in the teeth on a regular basis. The very fact that we are following the King of the Universe in a temporary world encased in a temporary body makes us the favored target of the envious enemy of God.
First lesson from the wild-man John: the nature of life on earth at times gets to us. We all find ourselves in some form of “prison” (fear, rejection, illness, or loneliness) that just gets to us. John had his moment in prison where he was no longer so sure about that “Lamb of God.” Notice the grace-filled and merciful answer of Yeshua (Jesus) in this moment of doubt, “Go and tell John what you hear and see…”.
Yep, no condemnation—just a reminder that the Lamb was doing all that had been prophesied.
I think if I could speak from John the Baptist to you, his words would be, “Hang in there, Jesus will work in his own time.”
The next doubters blew me away, however, and are the single most encouraging case to me, as a fellow follower who sometimes doubts.
Even Them?
If you’ve been a follower of The Way for long, you most likely can quote the “Great Commission” from memory. But read it carefully, the whole thing:
“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshipped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Mt. 28:16-20)
It was a good friend, KT, who pointed this out to me. I’ve been studying and teaching the Word for decades, and I missed this?
This was the eleven. All twelve of the closest male followers of Jesus, minus Judas who had committed suicide. These eleven had seen nearly every miracle, people raised from the dead, water to wine, and even watched their leader be killed, put in a tomb, and at this verse he is alive again!
And yet, “some doubted?”
Really?
Yes. It makes sense in a way—we walk in a world of doubt, did these who had seen so much just find Jesus too real, too gritty, and too human to be God? Did they have doubts as to whether he had really died or not put in their hearts by God’s enemy?
Notice again the grace and mercy of Jesus. He doesn’t attack them for their doubt, yet he knew their doubt, right? He just gives them the same commission he gave everyone else, “Go…”.
More tenderly, he gave them the same, “I am with you always…” reminder.
It’s tough being a spirit in a skin-sack, right? See my book Superhero: Being Who God Says You Are is great guide to dealing with so many of the challenges we face during our temporary assignment on earth. If you just need to see Jesus in a more vivid and powerful way, get my book First-Person Messiah: Transforming Your Life Through Amazing Encounters With Jesus. If you are going through a super-tough time and are seeking to know whether or not God has deserted you, then Satan’s Wager: What the Devil and God Got Wrong About God is for you!
But if you have doubt in your faith…you are in really great company. John the Baptist as well as the people who walked with Jesus during his time on earth are right there with us!
The question is, what do we do when we are in the pit of doubt? Watch for Part II, coming soon! We’ll talk next about the essential “possession” that increasingly helps us to stay the course when God seems far away, or not there…
Stevo out.
(Image by Fizkes/Shutterstock)
