No Doubt

My friend Kallie recently taught in the Youth Group on the topic doubt. The funny thing was that the person in charge of Youth Group wanted me to do a testimony on the topic. Kallie told him once that she didn’t think I would be suitable. So he talked to me about it. I said that I wouldn’t be suitable. So he talked to Kallie about it again. She told him I would be extremely unsuitable. “I don’t think Sam has doubts. At all. Ever.”

Which isn’t exactly true. I’ve had three periods of doubting God’s existence since becoming a Christian. The first two were in the first year I was a Christian, when I was completely alone as a Christian. The third was the year after, when I suddenly looked at everyone at church and thought, “What am I doing, surrounded by all these crazy people?” Then I immediately responded that I was one of them, and happy to be so. That’s right. Time of doubt number 3 lasted about as many seconds. Period 1 was the longest. That lasted almost a whole minute. I’m just not a doubter.

Part of that is my personality. I’m one of those incredibly annoying, know everything, gung-ho for what I believe in, kind of people. That’s part of why I have this blog – it’s a good outlet to allow those around me to have a short escape from dealing with me being all preachy to them 24/7.

But part of it is striving to be obedient. When you put God’s words into practise you become a stronger Christian. I am amazed at how much I have grown through doing what God has commanded. It’s about reading God’s word, and reading about His word, and meditating on what that means.

There’s a saying, that I’ve heard attributed to Smith Wiggles-worth. God says it, I believe it, that settles it. When I heard it, I was like “Yes!” But a few minutes later I realised that that was wrong. My believing it or not does not change its truth. If God said it, it is true, whether I believe it, or anyone else does, or no one else does.

Perhaps that’s why doubt is so bad. It undermines the position God has in our lives. Even the smaller types of doubt, like doubting that God who can watch over the whole world is also able to keep an eye on you (doubted that I think once, for about 2 seconds. Working with children is a great antidote for this doubt). It hinders us, makes us weak. It’s rottenness in our souls.

I don’t deserve any particular praise for being doubtless. It isn’t really to my credit. But if you have doubts, take them to God. He can deal with them. He can remove them from you. He can transform you so that you can serve Him fully, heart, soul, and mind.