Personal Aspects of Doubt
Your background influences who you are and how you think. We can all come to the unity of the faith as we obey the same Gospel message. But our responses can be different depending on the background we have. Poor parenting effects who you are. Broken relationships impact your thinking about relationships in general and, specifically, a healthy relationship with Christ.
The devil can use any of these danger zones to steal the seed from our heart and turn our lives away from Jesus.
You may have lost a parent early in childhood and it makes you doubt the wisdom of God. You may have had negative experiences with a dad who did not love you with a godly love and it makes you still doubt the Fatherhood of God. You may have failed too often in school and it makes you question your ability to live up to God’s expectations. You may have experienced some broken relationships and it makes you doubt God’s faithfulness to you. We are all products of our experiences.
Yet, what is Christianity but depending on God? Reminding ourselves of what we know. The three fundamental facts of the Christian faith are so very vital to a healthy life: the existence of God (and His nature), the deity of Jesus (and especially His resurrection), and the inspiration of the Bible (and its promises).
Faith is certainly a very personal matter. Consider the appearances of Jesus recorded in John 20. First, He showed Himself alive to the apostles, minus Thomas. The apostles then told Thomas but he did not accept their testimony. Thomas was something of an empiricist. He needed tangible evidence: “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe” (20:25).
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Thomas was having doubts in his mind, intellectual doubts. Jesus did not criticize Thomas for his doubt. He condescended and appeared to Thomas, inviting him to reach his finger and see His hands and reach his hand and put it into Christ’s side. “Do not be unbelieving, but believing” (vs 27).
There is no record that Thomas actually needed to touch Jesus. As far as the testimony is concerned, Thomas came to faith at first sight. Jesus goes on to bless me and you through His interchange with Thomas: “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (vs 29).
John, became a believer at the empty tomb, before he ever laid eyes on Jesus (vs 8). John writes at the end of the chapter that these things were all written so that you and I might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing we might have life in His name (20:30-31). Not just eternal life, but an abundant life here and now (John 10:10) – a life free of fear, free of doubt, full of confidence and conviction.
If faith comes by hearing the word of God, then faith is also sustained by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17). When your mind is pained by doubt, go to the Great Physician and let Him strengthen you through His word. The Gospel is based on solid, historical facts (1 Cor. 15:3-5).
–Paul Holland
