Doubt Your Doubts and Believe Your Beliefs

Have you ever had doubts about your faith or ever wondered if it were really true? If so, do not be too hard on yourself. Some Christians are reluctant to admit that they have any questions at all, but in reality, all believers do. I think that we sometimes have the idea that questioning God is an act of spiritual treason or betrayal, or that doubt is an unpardonable sin. Listen, everyone has moments of doubt. Even John the Baptist—the cousin of Jesus, the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, and the direct forerunner of the Messiah—had them. After he had been arrested and imprisoned, he sent word to Jesus, asking, "Are you really the Messiah we’ve been waiting for, or should we keep looking for someone else?" (Matthew 11:3 NLT).

Doubt is not always bad. Oswald Chambers said that doubt is not always a sign that a man is wrong; it may be a sign that he is thinking. It has been said that skepticism is the first step toward truth. Chuck Swindoll said, "It is the right of every believer to go through halls of doubt on their way to rooms of truth."

There is a difference between doubt, skepticism, and outright unbelief. Skepticism is when someone "can’t believe" and unbelief is when someone "won’t believe." Skepticism is honesty, while unbelief is stubbornness. Skepticism is looking for light, and unbelief is being content with darkness.

An unbeliever has no intention of changing or believing. They will offer up the well-worn excuse, but the fact of the matter is that, even when confronted with evidence to refute their nonbelief, they will reject it out of hand. That is because they do not want to believe.

On the other hand, the honest skeptic will change when presented with the facts. That is because they had truthful and heartfelt questions about God and His Word. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I would encourage you to doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs.