And immediately the
father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help my
unbelief. – Mk 9:24.
Doubt in itself is not unbelief. But doubt can lead to unbelief. This is especially
true of Volitional doubt.
This kind of doubt covers a range of different
forms of uncertainty. It can be in the form of “weak faith” in believers who
are too fearful to step out in obedience to God; conscious obscurantism by old
Christians who would not bend their ‘theology’ even in the light of revelation
of scripture; repeated, endless questioning by “seekers” who keep asking
questions but never really getting to ‘commit’, etc.
The most extreme form of volitional doubt is
seen in ‘intellectual’ atheists who have made up their minds from the outset not to believe. Their doubts are not
because of a lack of evidence, but because of a personal resolve not to accept
any evidence that may be thrown at them.
This was precisely the problem of the Pharisees
and Jewish leaders at the time of Christ and the early church. Because they
wilfully rejected every available evidence – both from fulfilled scriptures and
manifest miraculous “signs” – they lost out of God’s eternal salvation plan
(Rom 9 and 10).
Every Believer goes through doubt at one time
or the other; sometimes it’s factual, other times it’s emotional. But when we
begin to nurture doubt for doubt sake, for example through an unrealistic attitude to faith (expecting to be absolutely
certain of EVERYTHING), or through spiritual immaturity (refusing to grow),
then our doubts can unconsciously become a route to unbelief. And since faith
is our lifeblood connection to God (Heb 11:6), once unbelief sets in, we
gradually become spiritually dried up and prone to more attacks of the Devil.
Don’t give him that opportunity.
AMEN.
More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.
GREG ELKAN
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