Doubt can be a painful thing. a scary place. Something we don’t want to go through. Faith is necessary. Doubt can destroy everything. but what can we benefit from our doubts.
What are they?
The person who say’s there’s no place for doubt in the Christian life is wrong
Faith is an essential component of our walk with God. Without faith it is impossible to please god. It’s also true of every human endeavor. Every jJourney is taken in faith – without knowing the end from the beginning. The vision of the unseen destination must be believed sufficiently to compel each of us forward. No athlete reaches the top without first believing that he can. Those who disbelieve always sit on the side lines. Faith is an essential component of all those who succeed. Not everyone who has faith will succeed but no one succeeds without faith.
James tells us that he who doubts is like the wave of the sea tossed back and forth. By this I take James to mean a person that is constantly going between a state of belief to unbelief and back again. This is not the type of doubt to which I refer. But there are times where doubt is appropriate. The psalmist wrestles with questions. Jude tells us to be patient with all those who doubt. Paul tells us that everything that is not of faith is sin. But even Jesus appears to have doubted the fact that God was with him. “My God, My God why have you forsaken me.” The cry of dereliction from the cross is a cry of doubt – a belief that God has abandoned Jesus… Which he had not done.
Doubt within its proper place is an aide of a healthy faith. Doubt is a lot like pain. There’s something deeply wrong with pain – pain can be debilitating and ultimately destructive. But that doesn’t mean pain doesn’t have it’s place. Just as with pain so to there is something wrong with doubt but doubt with its proper limits does have its benefits. Here are 7.
1. Wards of false belief
Doubt is the aid of a healthy faith. Like white blood cells which fight off invading sicknesses, doubt is a defense against harmful points of view.
2. Fosters Humility
Doubt is a buffer (thorn in the flesh) that keeps you from becoming too self assured. Doubt reminds us that we don’t know everything and still have need of growth.
3. Motivates you to learn (search for answers)
Doubt often comes in the form of a question that demands to be resolved. Like pain, the feeling of doubt in part motivates us to seek answers to our questions.
4. Opportunity to exercise your faith
Moments of doubt give opportunity to trust. Paul says who hopes for what he has. In doubt we feel the absence and in these moments we must trust all the more.
5. Hedge your bets. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
It’s not always good to place all of our hopes and dreams in a single outcome. Doubt causes us to step back and balance our intentions through other options. God will heal my child but I question the means by which he will do that. I pray but I also take my child to the doctor.
6. Gives you an opportunity to grow.
This is more or less a combination of all these ideas. Doubt held in balance with a healthy faith. Its not the doubt of James.
7. Allows you to see things from another point of view.
Doubt allows us to wrestle with the views of others. Without it we would stop up our ears to anyone else’s point of view. I want the people I witness to to at least ponder the questions that I posses to them – to question the veracity of there own beliefs. In the process I question my own.
Necessity of faith
Direction!!! Every Journey is taken in faith – without knowing the end from the beginning. The vision of the destination must compel us forward.
1. Rest in things that cannot be seen
The future
Moral/values
Meaning and Purpose
2. Keep Doubt in Check
3. The plasibo effect is real.
