Faith and Doubt, Part One

Doubt is closely connected to faith, the way an annoying relative comes packaged with an otherwise delightful spouse. It’s not that faith requires doubt. Rather, flawed as they are, human beings are simply bound to have some fragility associated with their faith.

This is why the Bible does not teach that we are saved, in the first place, by our faith. We are not made acceptable to God based on the perfection of our faith but by God’s grace. This word means that God takes hold of us in spite of our many defects – including defective faith.

We are saved by faith in the sense that faith is the lifeline that God throws us to connect us to his Son, Jesus Christ. But we don’t always hold as tightly to the line as we should, and we may even have doubts that the line will hold… but it is God who has thrown us the line, and God who will make sure we’re holding onto it in spite of ourselves.


This lifeline of faith is a gift. Yes, this gift becomes tarnished once it’s placed in our hands. It’s like a child who takes a shiny toy and within the hour has it dented and dirtied. And that’s why we need to recognize that we are not saved as much by the gift as by the giver of the gift.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8

Now, what about doubt – is this a gift as well?

Stay tuned…