“Stand straight, walk proud, have a little faith.”
–Garth Brooks
I heard a pastor recently state that faith and doubt can coexist. It woke me from my slumber. Really? How can say such a thing? Jesus never taught this. Indeed, he was clear when he said,
“You of little faith, why do you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31). I understand that the point of the message was that it is okay to have doubts about our faith, but faith of any kind cannot exist alongside of doubt. These are mutually exclusive. They have an inverse relationship.
Faith of Spiritual or personal nature is not compatible with doubt. I see how it is tempting to be welcoming of doubt, but one will always drive out the other.
As we determine to accomplish anything, we trust that we can or we doubt. In behavioral psychology, this is referred to as “self-efficacy”. Where we have doubts, we must ask “why” and address the underlying doubt. Otherwise, where doubt remains, success is stifled. Faith is not “blind”, of course. It is tempered with skepticism, but it is skepticism that enables one to overcome doubt. As we challenge our doubts our faith invariably grows. As we step forward in faith our doubt diminishes.
If our faith is misplaced, doubt does not remain. Instead, we test our doubts and realign our faith with a new reality and a new confidence—moving ever closer to truth.
Carpe momento!