Managing Your Doubt

By Pastor Christian in Thinking About Sunday on 4/20/10

This Sunday, in the 3rd installment of our Inked series, Pastor Brandon Beals suggested that doubts are a healthy part of our faith experience as long as we face them, instead of hiding them in shame or letting them fester until they become unbelief.

I agree, our doubts must be investigated and our faith can handle it. I’d remind you that our faith has withstood the onslaught of rigorous examination since its birth, none more piercing than the investigation of its own adherents. It is our right to question, examine and when possible – resolve the matters of our faith.

But here is the deal; you CAN’T do it all at once. To use a technical, theological phrase – you will freak out!  You have to Manage your Doubt.

You can probably figure out how to handle it on your own, but I would like to offer the following image to help you think it through – a library.

All the information you need in this library could be written in a pamphlet. It could say, “Jesus is God. By his death you are justified and by his resurrection you are reconciled to God and new life.” That’s it.

But, that little pamphlet tends to generate volumes and volumes of questions and commentary. Like, “How is He God?” “Why did He have to die?” “What does that have to do with me?” “How did we get this story?” “How do we know it’s reliable”, etc.? These questions go on and on, until we could literally amass a whole library of questions, doubts, certainties and ideas.

So, I’d like you to imagine yourself standing dwarfed in front of a massive wall of books jammed with ideas. And I mean a huge wall – at least 50 feet high and 500 feet long.

How much of it do you think do you think you handle at once? One page from one book? One book? Three books? I’d say three books at most!

So, here is what you must do – manage doubts by managing your investigation. You simply can not solve all of your doubt at once anymore than you could hold that whole library in your hand.

You have to pace yourself - sort them in your mind. I’d suggest you talk to God and let him bring issues to the forefront. Then, calmly take one book down at a time, and work through it until you have handled your doubt. When you are done or at least satisfied for the time being, put it back on the shelf and move onto the next book. To be honest, it’s likely you will have to take your favorites down again. The data is massive and you are limited – plain and simple.

But I do have good news for you! The library is really good! There are real books, pastors, friends, websites, experience and JESUS all waiting to help you.

So, take a breath, slow down, and grab “a good book.” Trust me, you are not going to discover the deep dark secret that brings the whole thing down, but you just might discover something great about God or you.

The big details fit in the pamphlet, the rest will create awe and some doubts. The library is waiting . .

Christian

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