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 9:17-24Notice 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?
Such an interesting subject.Thing is,it seems that we need to get into a clearer understanding of faith before we are ready to discuss the ..doubt..thing. Really frustrating, most people my age seem to have all the answers, and I ,in turn, have so many questions. For instance, seems from the example given here, that Jesus was saying that if the father of the boy had faith, he could have prayed and his son would have been healed, right? Look at 1 Corinthians 12:4-11.especially vs.9, seems to indicate that both faith and healing are special gifts that are given to certain people to serve the body of the church.This would not be such a problem to me, had I not seen some of those people who would pray and get an immediate answer, and other people pray, in all sincerity and things don't work out...seemingly. Yet Jesus said..if we believe.. Such an interesting subject, so many scriptures that speak to this..and haven't even gotten to the ..doubt..part yet..:) Thanks for a great blog, really thought provoking. HSM
ReplyDeleteOh, from Life Application Bible, "All christians have faith,some however, have the spiritual gift of faith which is an unusual measure of trust in the Holy Spirit's power."This a foot note from LAB. I did have to come back and say God is so faithful in answering my prayers, although not to the extent of one who has the gift as discussed.hsm
ReplyDeleteI think we are programed to believe in what we can see, hear, and touch.It takes a lot of faith to believe in things that science cannot explain. We can't see air but we can't live without it. I think the Devil loves to place those doubts in us. Everyone has doubts sometime, but our faith keeps us from dwelling on it. When looking around your town, state,world,or universe,how could you not have faith in the belief of God and His works? I have doubts, but they don't stay long. M.E.
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