Despite Doubt: Embracing a Confident Faith

Despite Doubt: Embracing a Confident Faith

            Everyone has doubt because each one of us question possibilities and further thinking. We can ask questions which in the long run help us to understand and question further what it is we are talking about or investigating. But when there is doubt, there is also a far reaching experiencing to growth and knowledge. Doubts are essentially questions and since asking questions is the only path to finding answers, you should go ahead and doubt. Frederick Buechner explains, “Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.”

            Even John the Baptist doubted Jesus by asking, “Are you the one who was to come or should we expect someone else? Jesus used this question to clarify the gospel ministry of the Messiah. (Matthew 11:2-6). Even Jesus endured doubt. On the cross He became so distraught He cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) Jesus knew God had not abandoned him. He was fulfilling the promise, the prophecy and his purpose in coming to earth. Yet there was doubt in the moment of his dying of where the Father was.

            We too have moments when doubts cause us to question our faith. But we must realize that faith requires knowledge and so the important question is not “What are your doubts?” but “What do you know?” What do you know about your faith and your belief in Jesus Christ?  And how do you explore it?

REFLECT for a moment:                        

When you have experienced doubts have you later experienced moments of faithful knowledge?  Sometimes we take a leap of faith and turn it to a leap from faith. Just what are we meaning when we look at faith? Faith means to trust or commit to something, and the wisest believers rely on what they know, not what they do not know. What does your faith tell you about your belief in God?

 

 PRAYER

Holy One, You know us as individuals and still love us even when we doubt the stories we have held for generations. We think of those who doubted your actions and turned back only to die. We remember Thomas who had to see to believe that Jesus had risen. And we think of those who need you now but question this because of what they do and how others think of them. Hold us close in these moments of doubt. Help us to remember what we know and enable us to seek you again. Hear us O God. Amen.

Michael E Wittmer, Despite Doubt: Embracing a Confident Faith  (Introduction)