Doubt

Doubt. Not exactly the first sin that would pop into our minds, but still a sin. Romans 14:23 states "But whoever has doubts is condemned...and everything that does not come from faith is sin." Now, I purposely left out the middle part of that verse. Taken out of context it does sound extremely weird, but is of dire important to our idea of doubt. Reading just this part of the verse, it sounds like Paul (the author of Romans) is stating that any form of doubt is condemned.

However, doubt is a natural human emotion. Now we can control our emotions to a point, we can limit them, we can train ourselves to only bring them up in certain situations. I don't think we can completely wipe out our emotions. We have to accept that doubt is going to be a natural emotion that is going to pop up at some point during our lives.

The middle part of Romans 14:23 states "whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith." I would argue that the lesson from this is that doubt in itself is not sin, but our reaction to it could be. Let me describe two different situations.

I have doubts about what I'm choosing to do for the future of my life. Because of that doubt, I stay stuck in my decision, never actually choosing to do something. Playing it safe, continually questioning, eventually leading to self-pity, despair, and depression.

Or, I have doubts about what I'm choosing to do for the future of my life. Because of that doubt, I start looking at my options, sizing up why I'm doing what I'm doing. I start to turn to others to help me, I start to question myself as to why I'm having doubts, and what God could be telling me because of that doubt.

To me, one of those is a sin because it's turning inward instead of heavenly, while the other is normal, especially in our human nature. Now obviously the difference between the two isn't that great, making it a very slippery slope between the two. But, let's connect it back to the verse.

Again, Paul is condemning those who doubt if they follow through with their action with their doubt still lingering. The issue he is specifically addressing here would be regarding what the people are eating. One of the biggest issues gripping the early church was Gentiles vs. Jews. Jews had an extremely strict diet, in accordance to the Mosaic law, whereas the Gentiles didn't. With this new bonding under the church of Christ, the two parties were struggling to adapt, with this being an area of contention. Paul isn't condemning the fact that the two parties are struggling to find answers. In fact, in many places in his letters, he encourages this type of discussion, with one of his favourite literary devices being rhetorical questions. Instead, here he is condemning those that aren't convicted. He isn't siding with a certain perspective, instead he's saying choose a perspective. One isn't better then the other in this case, but having no belief is worse.

Perhaps the biggest area of doubt rather then the future of our lives, or the decisions we make, would be the status of our relationship with God. That can present itself through our actual salvation, or maybe our progress, or maybe even if we are even doing what God wants us to. When it comes to salvation, many tend to doubt their status, or where they stand in God's eyes. The thing to realize is that we can't know for certain where we stand in God's eyes. All we can know for certain is that if we do believe in Jesus, then in God's eyes we are forgiven. Again, it comes down to putting doubt off and choosing faith. Knowing what God wants us to do is slightly harder. One book I love is Me Myself and Bob by Phil Vischer. One of the greatest quotes in that book regards the author's conviction that people should stop trying to be a star, and instead focus on your relationship with God. A sermon that backs that up would be the Will of God by Afshin Ziafat, which is my favourite sermon of all time. He states the same idea. What our careers are, what our earthly relationships look like, what our bank account sits at, doesn't ultimately matter. Instead, it's what our standing with God is like. Instead it's our prayer life, our progression towards a Christ-like life, our fulfillment of the Great Commission. Everything else is secondary. While I do think that God does want us to specifically do certain things in life, I believe He leaves a lot of it up to us to get to on our own. The doubt can be quenched when you look at how your relationship with God is developing.

Ultimately, what I'm trying to say is don't be afraid of doubt. Don't feel dirty when you doubt yourself. Instead use it, harness it, turn it into a stronger faith. Accept your doubt, and challenge yourself. Focus on what truly matters in life. Worry about that, and not everything around you.