it comes down to a choice…

i hope this talking about this issue of doubt which is scary for some folks has encouraged you, to know that if you respond to your doubts it can be an impetus toward a richer and deeper faith.

if you’re wrestling with doubts i want to tell you a very quick story i think will encourage you. it’s about a guy who went out to california when he was thirty years old. he was a really good guy and he had a strong faith in GOD. and he wanted more than anything for GOD to do something positive with his life. but he had a friend named chuck and his friend went to a very liberal seminary and he started raising questions about GOD and especially about the bible. he started talking to his friend saying, “you can’t trust the bible,” and started trying to undermined his faith. and his friend started to get a little shaky in his thinking. but he had another friend, a woman, who was a strong bible scholar. she would whisper in his other ear, “it’s not true. here’s the evidence. here's the facts. here’s why you can trust the bible.” he said, “i felt like i was on a rack, being pulled toward doubt one way and faith another way. he said, “if i didn’t come to a point of total doubt i did come to a point of being very disturbed by the whole experience, very unsettled.”

one day he went for a walk. as he was walking he said, “GOD, i need your help in this! i don’t want to have a weak faith. i want a strong and powerful faith. i want you to use me in a positive way.” so he got down on his knees and said, “based on all the evidence for the trustworthiness of the bible i am going to as a choice of my will accept the bible as being the word of GOD and i'm going to base my life on it and i'm going to live the way it says i ought to live and i'm going to tell others about it.” he said, “i got up off my knees and it was like GOD breathed fresh life into my faith. i felt like a SPIRITual battle for my soul had been fought and had been won.” that man was billy graham. and look what GOD has done through his faith.

and i want to say to you, if you’re reading this today and you’re riddled with questions and uncertainties and doubts and you wonder, “can i ever do anything positive and powerful in my life?” think of billy graham and think about how your doubts may be the very road that GOD will use to give you a vibrant, resilient, powerful faith. who knows what GOD can do for you?

just a thought from the front porch…