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Scripture Reading: Matthew 11

What do you do when someone you love begins to have doubts about God?  Or when they’ve never put their faith in Him at all?  One of the best things you can do is to love them through their doubts.

Take a look at how Jesus did this in Matthew chapter 11.  In this chapter, Jesus actually deals with three different categories of doubters, using three different approaches.

The first category is made up of what I would call “honest doubters”―people who want to believe, but because of circumstances or sincere challenges to their faith, they’re looking for answers to help them overcome their unbelief.

As surprising as it may seem, John the Baptist may have been one of these men.  Even though John is the one who baptized Jesus, who proclaimed, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29b), when John landed in prison, he sent disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Matthew 11:3).

Jesus didn’t rebuke John for the question, but instead simply said,

“Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor” (Matthew 11:4-5).  

Then Jesus commends John to the listening crowd:

“Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11). 

Sometimes people need a gentle reminder of all that Christ has done, and continues to do, even if they aren’t seeing it right then in their own life.

The second category is made of up what I would call “skeptical doubters” ―people who stand back and cross their arms while they look at the facts, seeing if they line up with their preconceived notions of what a man of God should or should not do.  In their attempts to be “wise,” they can sometimes shut out the possibility of faith because Jesus doesn’t meet their expectations.

Jesus pointed out the dilemma of such expectations by saying,

“John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’  The Son of Man [Jesus] came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and ‘sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her actions” (Matthew 11:18-19).  

Sometimes people need to hear a wise response that challenges their assumptions and gives them true wisdom so they can put their faith in Christ.

The third category is made up of what I would call “stubborn doubters”―people who don’t want to believe regardless of the evidence.  Jesus sharply rebukes those who lived in the cities where He performed most of His miracles by saying,

“Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” (Matthew 11: 21-22). 

But even in this sharp rebuke, I don’t think Jesus was wasting His breath.  Sometimes people need a strong wake-up call to get them thinking clearly again and respond in faith.

The best way to help people who have doubts is to love them through it, whether that love takes the form of a gentle reminder, a wise response, or a sharp rebuke.

Jesus concludes by calling us all to put our complete trust in Him:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). 

Jesus wants you to come to Him today, putting your complete trust in Him, and encouraging others to do the same.

Prayer: Father, I’m going to put my complete trust in You today, and I ask that You would help to to encourage others to do the same.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.