When Mustard Moves Mountains

What are you confident of? What are you absolutely sure of? What do you hold in your life as a rock on which you can stand secure, unwavering?

Now, what are you unsure about? What do you doubt? What leaves you with unsteady footing?

Have those two ever met in your life? Have doubts and uncertainty ever crept into those things that you have always been sure of? Has something you once doubted now become your firm foundation?

Doubts are a pretty normal part of life. For most people, we experience doubt, in some capacity, every day. We doubt our own abilities to do things, to succeed. We question and doubt others' abilities or intentions. We doubt news that we hear, depending on the source. We question the veracity of things that people tell us, of things we tell ourselves, both good and bad. We doubt beliefs and philosophies and worldviews.

Doubt is a feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction about something. For some people, they approach almost everything with doubt and skepticism, not taking anything at face value, always needing some sort of proof and evidence before accepting something as true. For others, doubt is rare, they have believing hearts that accept most of what is presented to them without question. There is value in both. For, in a perfect world, we should all strive for an absolutely believing heart, but we don't live in a perfect world, and not all that is presented to us is true. Lies abound and people try to trick and deceive for many reasons. Wisdom and discernment are necessary, but they are not the same as doubt, and while it is good to be discerning and wise, doubt keeps us trapped.

For most, whether or not you doubt something has to do with: the size of the claim (it's easy to believe when someone tells you the bowl of white ice cream is coconut, not vanilla), the seriousness of the claim (it's easy to believe when the Dr. tells you you have allergies, much harder to believe when they tell you you have Stage 4 cancer), how well the claim aligns with what you already know to be true (easy to believe it may rain today, hard to believe a mysterious planet is going to smash into Earth this weekend) and who is making the claim (easy to believe a friend, hard to believe an enemy, someone who is unknown, or someone who is known to be untrustworthy). Every time we hear a claim, and we hear thousands every day, from what time it is to what is the meaning of life and does God exist, we run through these various things, prioritizing what we know and don't know about the claim and determining whether or not we will believe.

However, none of us have perfect knowledge about all things, and therefore almost every claim that we accept as true we do so with an element of faith, which serves as our proof for that which we do not personally know and see.⁽¹⁾

One of Jesus' disciples, Thomas, is infamous for being a doubter. He refused to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead, despite claims by Jesus beforehand that he would do just that and eyewitnesses who were some of his closest companions. He demanded physical proof. He had to see with his own physical eyes and feel with his own physical hands before he would believe such a claim. From him we now have the term "doubting Thomas," which means "a person who is skeptical and refuses to believe something without proof." That is what he is remembered for, but in reality, he was not the only one who doubted. The rest of the disciples did not believe the women who told them Jesus was raised or the disciples who encountered Jesus on the road to Emmaus until they saw Jesus for themselves. There was doubt in all of them.

Peter leaped out of a boat to stride across stormy waters, impulsively acting on faith, and then in the space of a second, he doubted. He doubted what Jesus had told him to do. He doubted his own senses and what he WAS doing. When he doubted he sank.

Christ knows that we have doubts, and He works with us in those doubts. He is bigger than our doubts and bigger than our questions. When the disciples doubted, He appeared to them, He ate with them to prove it was really Him. When Thomas doubted He offered His wounds so Thomas could see them and feel them and believe. When Peter doubted He immediately caught hold of him to keep him from drowning. Jesus can prove all of our doubts and questions, and yet... He asks that we come to Him with faith, that we walk on faith, that we take a leap of faith into an arena that we neither know nor understand, with huge risks and huge rewards, trusting what He says, believing in Him.

After He pulled Peter to safety He says, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?⁽²⁾” After he offers His wounds to Thomas He says, "Don’t be an unbeliever, but a believer,⁽³⁾" and once Thomas believes, He says, "Because you have seen Me, you have believed. Those who believe without seeing are blessed.⁽³⁾” Jesus taught that "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.⁽⁴⁾" The one who believes in Him, who has faith "will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these...⁽⁵⁾"

We are called to faith, faith like a child, that accepts and leaps headlong into whatever the one they have placed their faith in tells them to, because they know, not merely believe or hope, but know, that they will be safe. Our enemy seeks to sow seeds of doubt, by feeding us lies about ourselves, about others, about God, about Truth, and that doubt keeps us from knowing the beautiful truth that awaits us. It holds us back from walking on water and through fire, tofrom moving mountains, from sleeping with lions, from doing all that we are called and empowered to do.

So, what do you doubt? More importantly, what are your doubts keeping you from doing, and what do you place your faith in? Stop doubting. Let your doubt be transformed into faith, and place your belief in the One who is able to do immeasurably more than you can imagine.

⁽¹⁾ Hebrews 11:1
⁽²⁾ Matthew 14:31
⁽³⁾ John 20:27-29
⁽⁴⁾ Matthew 17:20
⁽⁵⁾ John 14:12