No Doubt

Doubt is a pretty basic feeling for humans. At times doubt seems so natural, especially when we are down in the dumps or just in a negative mood (being a negative Nancy!). I doubt all the time! Generally this time of year for me is filled with doubt, I doubt that the mission trip will end up going well, I doubt my ability to do ministry as things slow down a little, people get stressed from a full year of ministry and students are getting burnt out between school, sports, life, and church! I even doubt my faith...a lot!...Okay, maybe a lot is a small exaggeration, but I do doubt it at times, and it's not just the, one time of year kind of doubt.

But what is doubt really? I would say it is the lack or absence of hope. It is believing that something will go in the direction you do NOT want it to go. Hope is the opposite of that. Hope is the desire and belief that things will go the way we want. Doubt is not necessarily a sin, however, I would like to relate the two. Sin could be defined as the lack of our ability to see God in our life. Doubt, much like sin, I think is also a lack of our trust in God being involved in our lives. God is always with us and his hand is on everything in this world. If we truly believed this then doubt would not exist because we would be hopefull that everything God touches would be safe, clean, beautiful, and loved and that is truly the case. But we doubt that God really does have his hand on everything which only creates more doubt for us in our world.

In my mind hope and belief are one in the same. If we have these in our lives then it eliminates the need to doubt. Unfortunately, that is not the way we are all wired. We forget our connection with God, we find worldly things easier to grasp and so we lean to them instead of God. This creates doubt in Him which leads to more doubt. Doubt is natural, unfortunately, but we need to understand that it is natural. If we can understand this and know that we are not alone in our doubt then we can support each other and encourage each other to faith and hope!

I pray this week that we do not need to be like Thomas, not believing until we feel the holes in His hands. But we can believe and know through the love that we witness, He is risen and we ALL are saved! May you find hope in your world today and may that hope spread to those around you. May the hope bring love and joy and defeat the doubt of the world!