If I have doubts, am I really a Christian?
Courtney Couch
It can be difficult to keep my game face on 100 percent of the time. I believe, but I still have questions.
For years, Christians who experienced doubt were shamed into hiding questions instead of asking them. But If you don’t ask, you don’t get an answer. And without answers, questions grow into lingering doubts, which push us away from Jesus rather than bring us toward Him.
Following Jesus isn’t a blind action, and pushing down your questions isn’t an act of faith — it’s an act of willful ignorance. 1 Corinthians 14:33 promises, “God is not a God of confusion but of peace” (ESV). Instead of judging other Christians for having questions, let’s love and help each other by working together to find answers to our doubts.
Pushing down your questions isn’t an act of faith; it’s an act of willful ignorance.
Church Is The Best Place To Bring Your Questions
Whenever Jesus’ disciples encountered challenges or fell into sin, He brought them together and walked them through whatever it was that they were going through. In James 5:13-16, Jesus’ half brother explains how we should deal with spiritual challenges: Confess them and pray together. Is anyone troubled? Pray together. Is anyone happy? Worship together. Is anyone sick? Pray together for healing. The key to finding healing and answers is community.
James 5:16 says, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
Doubting Doesn’t Make You Less of a Christian
Doubting isn’t a sin, but it can lead to sin. When we allow doubt about God to separate us from the voice of God and the people of God, we’ll find ourselves doing things we never thought we’d do and going places we never thought we’d go. We can rationalize anything when there’s no one challenging us to live differently.
We can rationalize anything when there’s no one challenging us to live differently.
God isn’t intimidated by our questions or lack of understanding. When Jesus encounters someone who knows who He is and what He can do, He doesn’t condemn them. He reaches out and asks, “Why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31). If you know Jesus, you know who He is and you have experienced His power in your life. When you doubt, Jesus isn’t mad. He’s reaching out to you and saying, “You know who I am. Why did you doubt?”
Doubting doesn’t make you less of a child of God. In Jesus, God gave us the perfect example of how to deal with questions and doubt. In the church, God gave us community with men and women who are older and wiser than us. By choosing to hide our questions instead of asking them, we willfully choose to distance ourselves from a loving God who wants to draw us closer to Him through our relationships with other believers. Humbling ourselves enough to get rid of our game faces and admit we don’t have it all together is a next step toward closer community with God and with others.
Have questions about Jesus, God, the church or the Bible? Email us at hello@newspring.cc or come by the Care Room on Sunday. We’d love to help you find answers and take your next step.