The Gift of Doubts

In tomorrow's Gospel reading we hear the passage from John with Thomas expresses that he will have to see Jesus himself and touch his wounds to believe that he has been raised from the dead as the other disciples claim. While it was not a sermon about Thomas, I did once preach a sermon A Faith that Is in You in which I talked directly about doubts. I told of a Diocese of Georgia clergy conference I had been to not long before saying in part,

the most recent Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey told us that the world needs and expects believing priests. This is of course true. I stand here this morning to say as clearly as possible that I know in my bones and it does not contradict what I know with my brain, that there is a God who made us, loves us and wants to redeem us. I believe the Bible that we read here each week and try to pattern my life to follow its teachings.

But I can’t stop there and neither did Archbishop Carey. He went on to say that the faith we should have is an active faith not afraid of working through doubts and uncertainties to greater truth.

He then said, “Do I doubt? Of course. Every thinking person doubts. The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty.” For Carey, doubts and uncertainties may be God’s spirit leading us beyond the lesser truths where we have stopped along the way to a fuller understanding of who God is and how God acts in our lives.

Thomas' doubts led him to greater faith and so can yours if you have the courage to examine and consider your doubts and the honesty to seek answers. God is not afraid of your doubts. God may well have given those doubts to you to draw you further into the truth.