doubt, faith, feelings and personality…

doubt can breed in our emotions. this can happen in several ways.

some people have a faith that is fundamentally built on feelings. like the moment they gave their life to JESUS CHRIST, it was such a euphoric experience and it is for many people—it’s exhilarating to know that all your sins are forgiven and you’re going to spend eternity in heaven. with some people it is an emotional high. but that doesn’t last. it begins to taper off. when that emotional high tapers off people begin to think that their faith is going away. like that gordon lightfoot song “i don't know where we went wrong but the feelings gone and i just can’t get it back.” the feeling isn’t the same so they think there’s a problem with their faith and they begin doubting.

the reality is they’re just misunderstanding the relationship between feelings and faith. faith is not fundamentally about feelings and emotions. faith is fundamentally a decision of the will to follow JESUS CHRIST. it’s a choice that we make. our faith doesn’t ebb and flow according to how emotionally charged up we are.

there’s another way doubts can enter into our emotions. certain personality types are more susceptible to doubt. certain people are more susceptible to certain illnesses, certain people are more susceptible to questions and doubts. these are the melancholy kind of personalities. they may be people who wrestle with a lot of angst, people who are very contemplative, very deep in what they think about. often they wrestle more than other people do with questions and doubts.

the problem really isn’t with them. GOD wired them that way. there’s no problem being a melancholic, contemplative person who happens to have a lot of angst in their life. the problem comes in when they compare themselves to other people. they may have a happy-go-lucky friend who’s doing fine and they look at their life and say, “why am i always questioning things? why am i always bringing up uncertainties? why am i always wrestling with angst and struggling?” that’s a personality deal. don’t compare yourself to other people. GOD wired you up this way. and that’s ok. just be aware you may wrestle with issues more than other people.

just a thought from the front porch…