Faith is believing in the trustworthiness of God even when circumstances in your life appear to contradict it.
Consider this question... is yours a life of faith diversified by doubt? Or, is yours a life of doubt...diversified by faith? In other words, do you basically walk by faith...or by sight... needing confirmation before you can trust? (2 Corinthians 5:7). Do you generally put your trust in God's word, wait and then act? Or do you charge ahead... doing your own thing and asking God to bless it?
Do you have a stellar, nearly perfect faith? I doubt it. No human does. You see, the Christian life is an experience intertwined with faith AND doubt. It’s not a life lived with faith OR doubt, its a struggle of both forces working within us. Biblical faith is not necessarily the absence of doubt, but the ability to act on our beliefs despite the doubt that nags at us.
Doubt is not the same as unbelief. Doubt is uncertainty. It’s that murky area between belief and unbelief where nothing is decided and nothing is committed to. That’s why doubt is so damaging. It sidelines you. It holds you back from being your very best. Every time I doubt it holds me back, and every time you doubt it hold you back.
That’s what doubt does to you. It keeps relationships on hold, it keeps careers on hold, it keeps ministry on hold, and if you’re not careful, it will keep your Christian walk on hold — indefinitely. If you don’t deal with your doubts they’ll imprison you and prevent you from doing what God wants you to do with your life.
Some of you might be feeling this way about you Christian life. Some of you might be saying, “Since I became a follower of Jesus Christ, my life has become more difficult. I’ve got more problems now, not less. And God doesn’t seem to hear my prayers... at least I see no evidence of answering. Did I make a mistake becoming a Christian?”
Many times your doubts are just your problems taunting you: “If Christianity is really true, why am I having such troubles? If Jesus is real, why am I in the midst of a crisis? If God really loves me, why am I sick? Or why are you broke... why am I unemployed, and why am I... on and on and on and on.” We need to ask ourselves: “Are my doubts just a reaction to an unpleasant situation?” That is usually the case, but we think our Faith should neutralize all of life’s problems.
If you’re struggling with doubts, you need to look into the source of those doubts. Maybe your doubts are caused by unrealistic expectations. Are you having doubts because you’ve got problems? God never promised you wouldn’t have problems. Are you having doubts because you’re not getting the results you want? God never promised you would always get perfect results. Are you having doubts because some people don’t appreciate you? God never promised that everyone in the world would appreciate or even like you. Take a look at your doubts and look at them with a little bit of skepticism. Chances are, there’s less to them than meets your eye.
Faith is the ability to act on your belief in spite of your doubt. The Bible teaches that we cannot please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6). And Jesus queried whether or not there would actually be any real faith left on the earth upon His return (Luke 18:8). He knew that the forces of “doubt” would be a powerful force in our daily living for God.
Faith is the belief that God is good all the time in spite of apparent contradictions encountered in life. Biblical faith is not the blind leading the blind or vain superstition in things we can’t know or comprehend. God has revealed himself to us in marvelous ways, all sufficient to build a sustainable faith in all He has said He will do... His promises to those faithful to Him.
You have to learn to detach yourself emotionally from your doubts. Forget, for a moment, that you have problems. Forget, for a moment, that you have unfulfilled expectations. Then look objectively at the evidence all around you.
If you have doubts about whether or not the Bible is the Word of God, investigate the evidence. Ask a mature Christian to help you.
If you have doubts that Jesus was the Son of God, and that he actually rose from the dead, investigate the evidence. Ask a mature Christian to help you.
If you have doubts that God has the power to change lives today, investigate the evidence. Ask a mature Christian to help you see what God is doing in the world.
Christian faith is a "willingness" to believe, which means you put your trust in God, based on the sufficiency of the evidence we see all around us (Hebrews 11:1). The man says, "I do believe; help my unbelief" (see Mark 9:24), and God honors his request.
No one said it would be easy... certainly not God. God never asks us to be perfect in our faith... just trust Him and be willing.
Allow yourself to deal with your doubt. Decide today to not be held back any longer by your doubts, but believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that all things are possible through HIM.
