When Questions Stop Building Faith

Questions do not scare God. Doubt is not the same thing as rebellion. Some of us were taught things about God that were more cultural than biblical, and those beliefs may very well need to be challenged.

But there is a difference between examining a belief in submission to Christ and making ourselves the final authority over what is true. That's what I wanted us to see in this week's Perilous Waters message.

Jude describes false teachers as dangerous reefs — hidden hazards beneath seemingly calm water. That image matters. Faith rarely shipwrecks because someone wakes up one morning and decides, “Today I'm going to stop following Jesus.” More often, doubt comes one thought, one assumption, one voice at a time. Brick by brick, human reasoning can become a stronghold around our hearts and minds.

So what do we do with hard questions? We don't bury them. We don't pretend they aren't there. But we also don't hand them over to whatever voice on the internet happens to sound the most confident. We bring them to Scripture. We pray in the Holy Spirit. We ask God to show us where our understanding is wrong. And we allow faithful Christian community to help build us up.

Jude's instructions are striking: build one another up in faith, pray, remain in God's love, and show mercy to those who doubt. That last part matters. People need mercy. Ideas deserve examination. Wrong ideas require demolition. We should never confuse loving someone with refusing to examine what they believe. But neither should we confuse defending truth with treating a struggling person like an enemy.

The story of Job reminds us that we won't get every answer on this side of eternity. Sometimes God doesn't answer our questions by giving us more information. Sometimes He gives us a deeper revelation of Himself.

Knowledge seeks to answer the questions in our mind. Encounter settles the matter in our heart. At the end of John 6, many disciples walked away because Jesus' teaching was hard. Peter didn't claim to understand everything. He simply knew where life was found: “Lord, to whom would we go?”  That's the posture I want for us.

Ask the hard questions. Tear down what is false. But build your life on Christ!