Faith and Doubt

Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
John 20:27-28 (NIV)

Thomas has carried a bad rap for his expression of doubt concerning Jesus’s resurrection. But Jesus did not condemn Thomas or judge him harshly or dismiss him because of his doubt. That’s because Jesus saw Thomas’s doubt as a bridge. He saw his doubt as a catalyst, as a stream, as a path to mature his faith. Thomas’s doubt was not a deterrent to his faith. It actually fed his faith and it put him in the exact place to be transformed into a deeply convicted witness who would then impact lives and lead others to Jesus.

Many of us have been far too hard on ourselves for nursing doubts in our lives. We carry doubts about the paths that we are on and about where those paths are leading us and the decisions we have made and the decisions that are beckoning us as we press to move forward. Every single person, Christian and otherwise, carries doubts. We often feel guilty for carrying doubts and are disappointed in ourselves that we have them.

But the Lord knows you love Him. He knows that you know He’s real. He knows that you worship Him and believe in His Word. He knows that you believe in salvation and that you’re grateful for redemption. He also knows you carry doubts.

And while faith and doubt do coexist, they don't have to be adversaries.

Faith and doubts are not enemies when belief is the field upon which they engage their tension. Thomas never doubted Jesus. He only doubted that Jesus could come back from the dead the way that He did. And because his doubts and faith were wrestling on the field of an already certain assurance that Jesus is real, Jesus stepped between Thomas’s faith and doubts to give him assurance and a new awareness.

Your doubts are not to be hidden, suppressed, or ignored. Instead, allow faith and doubt to wrestle on the same playing field of an anchored spiritual belief in Jesus.