doubt

Doubt . . . it's rather common in the lives of followers of Christ . . . and yet it's something we rarely feel free to talk about. It seems as though we like to think that we're the only ones struggling with it, when that couldn't be further from the truth. The truth about it is that if we opened up about it, we would find other followers of Christ who sturggle with doubts.

It does pay to be careful who you open to about your doubts because some people won't handle them well. They will be shocked or they will tell us they mean that we're not really followers of Christ. But, other people will encourage us in using them to push us deeper in our relationship with God.

Doubts can have two different effects on our lives - they can drive us away from God, or they can drive us to God. What our doubt does depends on how we respond to them. If we choose to think that no person who really has a relationship with God can doubt, then we will be driven  away from God and we will come to false conclusions about Who He is and what He can do. But, we can also choose to allow our doubt to drive us to our knees in prayers and to the Bible in search of answers. The second choice honours God in the midst of our doubt and will ultimately benefit us greatly in the long run.

On a website that I read regularly they had a two-part series on doubt this week that got me thinking about this. You can read Part 1 and Part 2.

So, how do you respond to doubt in your own journey with God? Do you allow it to drive you away from God? Or do you allow it to drive you to God?