One Minute Apologist - Doubting Toward FaithSample

We all want to be in control. It’s hard to let go, to loosen the grip on our lives. None of that comes naturally. Yet, so much of the Christian life involves surrender. It’s about yielding and dying to ones self. The very essence of faith is about surrendering our will to God's will.

Our job as believers is to read the Word and then align our lives to it. Scripture contains God’s will in written form. It’s impossible to surrender to God’s will if we don’t know His Word.

I fear that many Christians avoid the Bible because they’d rather not know all that it demands. They’d rather live in ignorance, living their way. Perhaps that describes you, shying away from God’s Word in the name of securing your own will. Like others you may think, Why would I want to know more about God’s will? What if it runs contrary to mine? Well, in that case you’d experience a clash of the wills. And volitional doubt would likely ensue.

So that’s why it’s easier for some to just avoid God’s Word rather than deal with the challenge to our will that comes along with it. God’s divine pokes can feel like an irritant. A nuisance. But we need to realize that His pokes and prods are merely His sacred invitations into closer relationship with Him. Welcome the invitation.

The problem is that the volitional doubter struggles while simultaneously second-guessing God. Whereas Jesus modeled the surrendered life beautifully when He cried out in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” The anthem of the volitional doubter might be, “Nevertheless, not Your will, but my will be done.”

REFLECTION