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The doubts and questions we all come by honestly are all too often dismissed or demonized by other people. Unfortunately, belonging is also often intimately connected with whether or not you agree with everyone else's answers to your questions. Looking deeper, we see that insecurity, or the frenetic search for security, is closer to the root of division and strife wherever you go.
What if doubts and questions aren't keeping you out of God's favor, but are actually the pathway to peace? Jump into this episode to explore how God's scandalous grace doesn't require us to have all the answers, but accomplishes the restoration we're desperate for by exposing the false god's we no longer need to bow to.
The LARK BLOGCAST is a written exploration of God’s scandalous grace read aloud for those who don't have time or don't like to read. Listen in and be encouraged as you go. Read at larksite.com/blog. Join the conversation by emailing howdy@larksite.com.
Read the blog that this episode read aloud at www.larksite.com/blog/do-doubts-and-questions-disqualify or read below:
Insecurity is one of the most uncomfortable human experiences. Even if we're not outwardly anxious, much of what we do is still motivated by a desire for a settled sense of security. This is usually wise and conventionally acceptable, but in relation to Jesus, it is counterproductive.
THE QUESTION ISN’T “WHO HAS DOUBTS OR QUESTIONS?”
We mask our nagging sense of inadequacy with seemingly honorable endeavors like gaining the approval of others, accumulating things, or achieving goals. It's hard to find genuine human pursuits not rooted in the primal lies that "I am not enough" and "I cannot trust God to be good." Is there anything more human than to be unsure?
The doubters and inquisitors are not the only ones who are insecure. In fact, those who admit what they aren't sure about and what they can't control may be some of the most secure people on the planet. But, this isn't a competition. The point is, we're all on the same playing field no matter how we manifest our insecurities.
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THE TRUTH ABOUT DOUBTS & QUESTIONS
There is a mountain of lies we've accepted if we live and die by a transactional view of life which says we are only acceptable to God when we do or become something. We even find comfort in the idea that our security is in our own hands. We are chronically prone to the untruth that God might not be for us.
You can deny this false reality. Do your doubts about the goodness or existence of God disqualify you? Do your questions reveal defection or apostasy? Is it possible that your belief can be so small that it gets you disowned by the One who holds all things together? By no means!
But, this false reality is cloaked in irresistible beauty. Everywhere and all around, we applaud saviors and shame failures. Nothing relieves the pressure to be good enough like someone else's failure.
Ironically, a superiority complex is almost always an issue of insecurity. The false reality convinces us that we must cover up inadequacies, that we can improve enough to impress God, and that it's worth our time to insist on the improvement of others.
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THE REAL ISSUE UNDER DOUBTS & QUESTIONS
So the core issue isn't our doubts and questions. We come by all of these honestly. Don't be afraid of them. Don't seek to overcome or resolve them. The core issue is the lie that our ultimate security depends on what we make of ourselves and the world.
Doubts and questions are just symptoms of the disease of our souls which Jesus came to heal: we don't believe what is true. That unbelief sets us on the never-ending trajectory of making true what was never false in the first place: God is good, and we are loved.
THE SCANDAL OF ACCEPTABLE DOUBTS & QUESTIONS
Instead of insisting on better people, we are ready to share better news. Jesus didn't come to upgrade our religion systems. He didn't start something he's waiting on us to finish. He didn't call us to a faith that he would only validate by our faithfulness.
There would be no Jesus if we just needed someone to raise the bar. There would be no cross if there was a higher road we could take.
Jesus accomplished the reconciliation of all things and sent the Spirit to help us trust in it. He didn't just forgive a bunch of trespasses and misdeeds; he gave us a way out of our unbelief.
He didn't come to make humans more appropriate for God; he came to change our minds about who God is in the first place. He didn't come to give us answers to all of life's questions; he came to close out the religion of book-keeping and God-pleasing.
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DOUBTS & QUESTIONS MAY ACTUALLY BE GOOD NEWS
So don't be afraid of your doubts. Don't be ashamed of your questions. Don't be discouraged by your unbelief. These are the reasons Jesus saved us by grace instead of by performance enhancement.
In fact, doubts and questions prove that you know something is wrong and you long for something better. The pathway to freedom won't avoid your doubts and questions. It will employ them to expose the false god you're enslaved to.
Instead of insisting on better people, share better news. Instead of trying to overcome your insecurities, find rest in the promise that Jesus is what God is really like. Resist the alluring false reality of a dissatisfied God and an improvable you. Jesus came to call not the righteous but sinners (Mark 1:17).
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