Do doubts and faith mix?

Is it OK to have spiritual doubts?

If you have doubts, does that mean that you don't have faith?

Do they ever mix, meaning that you can have faith in God and doubts at the same time?

Does God disapprove of people who doubt?

Jesus had an interesting encounter with a man who was pleading for the welfare of his son. Here is how the story goes:

A man in the crowd answered, "Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not." "O unbelieving generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me." So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?" "From childhood," he answered. "It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." " 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes." Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"- Mark 9:17-24

Notice the honesty in that man. If he didn't have faith, would he have bothered to bring his son in the first place? However, he never held back or tried to put on a front with Jesus. He said, "If you can . . ." and " . . . help me with my unbelief." Both of those statements show great honesty and transparency as well as humility. It seems Jesus valued all three qualities. I don't think the situation would have been better for the man had he tried the "fake it till you make it" method. He demonstrated the faith he had in the person of Jesus by bringing his son and making his request and Jesus honored it.

I think that is how spiritual growth happens. We bring the faith in Christ that we have, obediently submit it to Him and take the next step He asks us to take, receiving God's grace, love and acceptance. Then we repeat those steps over and over again as we grow in Christ. In that way, we don't hide our doubts, but we don't sit on them either. We move forward in faith.

What do you think? Do doubts and faith mix? Where is God in our doubts?

Forgiveness . . . How do I really do that?

Lewis Smedes says there are really four elements in forgiveness:

1. You surrender your right to get even.
2. You give your enemy's humanity back.
3. You get the freedom to wish that person well.
4. You are willing to be open to what God wills.

I think those are some powerful things. To me, I think the greatest roadblocks to actually asking for or extending forgiveness to others is that we don't understand it and what it's really for. We think forgiveness means telling someone what they did was really OK. We think it simply means tolerating bad behavior. We think it means there are no consequences, that we are just letting someone off the hook. Still some think that if you forgive someone you can instantly forget the wrong and trust the person all over again as if nothing happened. These are just some of the misconceptions about forgiveness. There are a whole lot more!

More than anything else, I believe forgiveness is necessary because God wills it. In one sense that should be enough. But if that was enough people would be tripping over themselves to forgive - and they aren't! But there is another reason. I think forgiveness is important because it frees us from being locked up in the prison of our past. If we cannot forgive, the only alternative left is to hold onto the anger, the pain, the wound, the loss, the betrayal, etc. In this way forgiveness is a gift from God that sets us free.

Here are some important steps:

1. Declare the wrong. - You can't forgive something unless there has been a wrong committed.
2. Acknowledge the bitterness of unforgiveness. - You can't move forward until you admit you are carrying bitterness and agree to put it down.
3. Decide to obey God instead of your feelings. - If we wait to feel like forgiving we never will.
4. Live out of the mercy line. - We cannot give what we have not received. Until we receive and internalize the forgiveness of Jesus we will not have the capacity to extend it to others.
5. Pray for you and for them. - Forgiveness is a supernatural act that only happens with God's help.
6. Make your forgiveness visible. - When forgiveness is real, you can see it. People live at peace. They reconcile and make restitution when possible.
   

What other elements in forgiveness might be left out here? What are some stories you have where you walked the road of forgiveness?

Forgiveness . . . Why NOT to stay away from it!

Psychiatrist Karl Menninger once said that if he could convince the patients in psychiatric hospitals that their sins were forgiven, 75 percent of them could walk out the next day! Even if this is exaggerated by half . . . that means over a third of the people! That is incredible.

Unfortunately as a pastor I have witnessed all too often how guilt and shame can incapacitate people, keeping them stuck in the past and unwilling or unable to move forward and be the person God has called them to be.

What prevents us from coming to God and receiving the forgiveness, the pardon for our sins, that we so desperately need?

• Fear – I don’t turn to God because I am afraid of what might happen.
• Lack of trust – I don’t turn to God because I really don’t think He will keep His promises.
• Refusal to change – I don’t turn to God because I want to go my own way, which is against His way.
• Pride is in control – I don’t turn to God because I would rather choose Hell over humility.
• Image management – I don’t turn to God because I don’t want to face reality.
• Self-righteousness – I don’t turn to God because I think I have to earn His favor.

There are probably other reasons that could be given, but I think it all ultimately boils down to the fact that we really don’t know who God is and what He is about – His nature. If we did, we wouldn’t be shackled to the guilt and shame that kills us.

Here are two important verses of scripture we all need to see, commit to memory and bury into the center of our spiritual DNA.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:9 (NIV)

We think of confession with images like an interrogation room in a Law and Order episode where the truth is squeezed out of us, but that is not what confession is for. God didn’t call us to confess our sins in order to humiliate us or even to keep us in check. He called us to confess our sins in order to give Him an opportunity to heal us with His grace and mercy. Confession and repentance then becomes a means for God to enter in and transform our lives. To not believe God can or will do this is to fundamentally call Him a liar.

“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” – 1 John 2:1-2 (NKJV)

Propitiation means safe shelter. We can turn to God because He is the safe shelter for ALL sinners. When we turn to Him He extends the grace that can transform our lives forever. Without our turning to Him there is no place of safety and no avenue for grace to enter our lives. God is a safe shelter we can turn to and, when we do, He lifts the guilt and shame from our lives and sets us free.

Why would anyone avoid the safe shelter that God's forgiveness provides? What is another way to make this clearer?