Doubt

To be more accurate, faith and doubt, because I believe doubt can only come after you have experienced faith in something or someone. Faith is usually held dear, but doubt is dangerous. A simple example may be a restaurant you have used for years, and have built up a faith in its food and good reputation. Then, someone tells you they heard that this same restaurant had failed a health check. It may not be confirmed, but a seed of doubt is sown, and soon you are looking around for a new place for your takeaway food. Your doubt only came after you had first put your faith in the establishment. Most of us have been there already.

Doubt can be funny when it comes down to thinking your wife can’t make a roast dinner like your mother’s, or your husband can’t put an Ikea wardrobe kit together like your dad! However, when a seed of doubt is sown it is very difficult to remove, and may not be possible. The worst doubts are the ones you have about the people and things you care about the most. For example if a spouse starts to doubt that their partner doesn’t really love them, and all because a friend has whispered in their ear. When that seed is placed in your heart, how do you remove it, after all you may not want to talk about it openly for fear you are wrong. Talking about your own feelings could be disastrous for your relationship. This scenario is probably more prevalent than we care to admit. Doubt is dangerous, because it undermines the common foundation of faith you share.

The Christian faith can run deep in the heart, and can withstand many storms and external doubts which can be thrust at you from those whose opinions you don’t care about. Our faith is in the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and the finished work of Calvary, and the resurrection. For the most part, and in most Christians, this faith will endure, and most doubts will be dealt with quickly and easily. We can and do believe in the faith we treasure, and there is not a lot which can alter that.

The true Church is the bride of Jesus Christ as described in the Bible, so let me go back to the analogy of the doubting spouse, and the dangerous place they find themselves, fermenting in a situation before anything is openly said. This can and does end in separation and even divorce, but always leads to distrust. How can you trust your spouse after they have doubted your love? Using that analogy, what then if a seed of doubt is sown in your heart about your church? Not the true bridal Church of Christ, but in that unseen hierarchy which controls many small assemblies? What if those whispered doubts are unfounded, or perhaps only partially founded, in other words, some parts may be true? Make no mistake, there can be nothing worse than a half truth, or deceit under the guise of truth. As you weigh these things up, what blame lies with those who  shout their whispers and hide behind the pretence of ‘speaking the truth in love’, or  ‘telling you for your own good’, or ‘the Lord gave me this message’? We do not need an enemy without, when we have such an effective enemy within. How about these words of the pharisee Gamaliel as a final thought: I advise you: leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.’ Acts 5:38,39 NIV