I doubt it!

Yes, I said it...I doubt...do you?

This is a very appropriate subject, in light of the fact that we are currently on a journey to figure out what we believe and why. Are you one of those people who thinks that a "good Christian" does not doubt God, His existence, the Bible, etc....? Are you one of those people who not only doubts all of that, but just out-right doesn't believe in any of that at all? Either way, doubt in itself is not a bad thing. As a matter of fact, denying that you doubt could end up being more harmful to you than doubt itself. WHEN you doubt, not IF, it often can be a good thing, because it forces you to go on a journey to discover why you believe what you think you believe...sound familiar!?!

I thought this one email I got was very timely this week. Max Lucado puts things in a very down-to-earth, easy-to-relate-to perspective. One of his daily emails this week was on just this subject. You can check it out at this link: http://www.maxlucado.com/articles/daily/do_you_doubt/#When:06:01:33Z

A couple of the things he said that I liked a lot (I really liked it all!) is that Doubt will "tell you not to believe in the invisible yet offer no answer for the inadequacy of the visible…His aim is not to convince you to confuse you. He doesn’t offer solutions, he only raises questions."

And another thing he said that was oh-so-true is, "If you are more cynical about Christians than sincere about Christ, then guess who came to dinner?" Ouch!!! I think we can all relate to being burnt by Christians...after all, Christians are HUMAN BEINGS...very imperfect just like anyone else. The trick is to realize that our hope is not in people, our hope is in Christ! Yes, He lives inside of Christians, but that doesn't mean Christians are made perfect on this earth. We still do and say very disrespectful, selfish, rude, hurtful things to fellow believers and non-believers alike. We still have our innate personalities, which when given to God to be used can be used amazingly (He made us the way we are for a reason!), however when we take our eyes off of Him and get too caught up in ourselves and doing things the way we think are best, those God-given personalities can be quite difficult for others to deal with - not to mention difficult to deal with ourselves.

Sooooo, what are you going to do with this?

I doubt (pun intended!) you can go away from this without reconsidering some things in your life, as I am in mine.

Specifically, Why are you avoiding God (if you are)? Are you using excuses that are fed by doubt? Give your doubts and fears and failures and guilt to HIM...accept His love and grace and forgiveness and faithfulness to you and acceptance of you.

Don't put off getting on the right road with Him (or BACK on it) until you "get some things straight" or "figure it all out" or find a church and/or denomination with which you completely agree and find no "bad" Christians. You will NEVER be satisfied if you are waiting on any of those things! Just come to Him...NOW...NOT LATER...just like you are right now.

Even if you've walked away from Him deliberately and feel guilty about it. Even if you think you've been just fine and living the "good Christian life"...still take this time to really think about that and re-evaluate it all. He wants to go deeper with you right now...not later! He wants to show you who He is in YOUR life, not just who He is period. I dare you to be real with Him and to trust Him! He will shock your socks off with what He wants to do in YOUR life!!! Hold on...are you ready?

Come to Him now, be real with Him...if you dare!