Words of Grace – Dec. 24, 2014

“O ye of little faith” (Luke 12:28). These words were spoken by Jesus to the twelve disciples. He then went on to tell them, “Neither be ye of doubtful mind” (v.29).

We are reminded by Albert Tindley, in his beloved gospel song, “If you trust and never doubt, He will surely bring you out.” Not many of us can say that we “trust and never doubt.”

Doubt is the enemy of faith while faith is the remedy for doubt. That is why Jesus taught the disciples the importance of praying with faith and without doubt.

“If ye have faith, and doubt not” (Matthew 21:21). He that prays “shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe” (Mark 11:23).

Doubt is unbelief, and as L.R. Scarborough points out, there are different degrees of unbelief. Doubt or skepticism, as it is called, is not the same as the unbelief of an atheist, or infidel, or an agnostic.

An atheist does not believe in God. An infidel denies the deity of Christ. An agnostic believes that there is no way to know if God exists. A doubter is skeptical of any of the fundamental truths concerning God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

It says of Jesus’ disciples, in Matthew 28:17, that “some doubted.” One of them was doubting Thomas, to whom Jesus said: “and be not faithless, but believing” (John 20:27).