Have you ever felt like a hypocrite at church?

Here's a sobering truth from my friend Cheri. Check it out.

Doubting Faithful
Have you ever felt like a hypocrite at church? I have. People see me as this super spiritual person, but I'm just like everyone else. I have days when doubt overtakes me. The mountains seem bigger than my faith, the road is filled with more obstacles than I can imagine, and I feel so small. I'm tired.

That is when the voices of doubt are louder than my voice of faith. I hear the voices say things like, "If He loved you that much, you wouldn't be going through all of this," and "Look at that person over there; they're at least having fun. Being a Christian is really not worth it." Sometimes I'm sitting in church with these thoughts running through my head. Then I begin to berate myself for my lack of faith. I'm so glad I found this nugget in this familiar passage. Now I'm free to have those doubts and still be a loyal follower of Jesus Christ. What nugget is that? See For Yourself.

For Study: Read Matthew 28:16-20.

For Thought
Did you catch it? The eleven were all there. They had just spent an incredible forty days with the risen Christ, having all of their questions answered, seeing miracles performed, and having his resurrection proven beyond a shadow of doubt. So it would seem. Now it is time for Jesus to go to His Father.

They are up on the mountain to worship Him and the scripture says, "But some doubted." I don't think those words are in there by accident. Jesus knew we would doubt and would need to be reassured of our worthiness in spite of our doubt. Jesus knew his disciples doubted, even after they had witnessed all that they had; yet he still commissioned them to go and do his work. God can still use us, even if we come to worship him full of doubt. Praise be to God!

For Prayer
Praise God for His faithfulness despite your doubt. Ask him to help you with your fears and your weariness, and thank him for counting you among His faithful even when you doubt.

To learn of Cheri's other ministry interests including her new book, “Direction: Discernment for the Decisions of Your Life,” visit www.DirectionAndDiscernment.com.

Guilty, as Cheri writes. Doubt creeps up when things don't work out. It's easier to trust when life flows smoothly.

So, off to practice faith, true faith. And just as important, no matter what I face, learn to expect great things to come because of whom I trust!

Janet
www.janetperezeckles.com