For those not following Tweology, each week there is a “Tweology Challenge”. This week’s challenge asked:
What Christian doctrine do you believe but struggle the most to believe and why?
There were many interesting responses to that question. Topics included:
- election
- predestination
- the problem of evil
- Hell
- Christ returning as both fully God and fully man
- the Trinity.
Despite the validity of the above doctrines and others, there’s a sense, for example, where I can understand why a holy God would send rebellious and wicked creatures to a place of eternal conscious punishment. Furthermore, there’s also a sense where I expect nothing else from God than that He be totally sovereign, after all, He is God. The doctrine I most struggle to believe isn’t amongst those listed nor is it amongst the minutiae of theology. The doctrine I struggle the most to believe is the good news…the Gospel!
How could a Holy God ever set His love upon wicked sinners? Nothing compelled Him. He was self-sufficient in and of Himself. We all deserve Hell and He is just when He sends us there.
By the grace of God and the enabling of His Spirit I do believe that the God-man suffered in the place of wicked men, died and then rose again, ascended to the right-hand of the Father, and now intercedes on behalf of sinners as their Great High Priest. Yet, every fibre of my sinful being wants to deny my need for that Great Saviour, at every turn whispering that there is power in my “good” works, and in the words of Frank Sinatra, that I can do it “my way”. It’s a lie. I do need Him. My “good” works are nothing but filthy rags. Hell is the destination at the end of “my way”.
I thank God that He did indeed die for sinners and that I do believe it. I’m freely justified on account of Christ.
“’Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life…’” – John 6:68b
Do you believe the good news of what God has done in the person of Jesus Christ? If not, repent and believe it today. Then find a church where you’ll hear this good news proclaimed from the Word of God each and every week.
The one I have the hardest time with, since having children, is unconditional election. Fear grips my heart when I think that God may not have elected them before the foundation of the world. Every night when I pray with my daughter before bedtime, I pray that God will convict my children of their sin, give them eyes to see and ears to hear, and grant them repentance and faith to believe because He’s the only one who can do that. My daughter is old enough now to really start talking about the gospel some but she’s still too young to really get all of it.
Joe:
Amen!
It still amazes me that He does though.
I don’t have trouble believing the Gospel, I have trouble understanding WHY he would save a depraved sinner like me.
Similar. The doctrinal issues don’t bother me in the slightest–He’s almighty God, after all, and can do anything He wants. The difficulty is in believing in my own sanctification…love your enemies? Me????? Yet I know this is possible in the power of the Holy Spirit, no matter how unlikely it seems.
I’ve enjoyed browsing here, Nathan. This is a good post and thought provoking. I think one needs to believe the gospel to believe all the doctrines mentioned above and thus it is the one we struggle with most.
Lord, help thou my unbelief!