The Sin of Doubt

Doubt and fear can be crippling in our relationships with others. Not so much fear I think, but doubt is the cause of numerous fights and relationship issues. Let me give you an example. You send someone a text and you don't hear back from them right away. What happens next? We begin to doubt. We begin to question. Our minds begin to fill in then blanks - often with guesses, not facts.

That's the thing about us humans. We tend not only TO doubt be we also can CAUSE doubt in the minds of others. We do that to each other a lot! Even unintentionally.

A few winters ago I was driving to work - a 45 minutes ride. It was snowing out and the roads were slippery. My friend at work sent me a text to see how I was doing. I was concentrating on the road and did not see the incoming text.

By my not responding, my friend began to doubt my safety and began to worry. Doubt and fear caused my friend to get in her car and drive toward my house, scanning the ditches for my car as she went. Doubt and fear can cause us to do many things we wouldn't do otherwise. When doubt and fear get tangled up with our love for someone we can end up doing some pretty crazy things. What she did was admirable but it was based in doubt.

After Jesus was crucified, God raised Him from the dead. Mary Magdalene testified as to her seeing the risen Lord. There was doubt among the disciples so they ran to the tomb and were still not satisfied. They doubted her story.

When Jesus finally appeared to them and they saw Him, they STILL doubted.

^"16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted." - Matthew 28:16-17

How can one doubt the risen Lord when He is standing right on front of you!?

Doubting Thomas

That's easy. We tend to doubt the things our minds cannot comprehend.

It is easy to doubt and question our human relationships because . . . we're human. We make mistakes. We are prone to sin and doubt. It's in our very nature. But there should be no fear or doubt in our relationship with God, yet there will be. We're humans. We doubt.

I'd like you to read something. It speaks to our doubt and fear.

^"7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

¹³ This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. ¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. ¹⁷ This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. ²⁰ Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. ²¹ And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister." - 1 John 4:7-21

There should be no fear or doubt in our relationship with Jesus. God's promises are true. God never lies. To do so would be a sin. So cast off your doubts and fears. Believe in Jesus, who became OUR sin, so that we might have life in Him. Do you believe that? DO you believe and not doubt? Have no fear. Love one another as He first loved us. There is no fear or doubt in love.

Doubting Thomas Video - to Nichole Nordeman's song "What If"