Selwyn now looks at ‘some of the issues and struggles that arise in our hearts and minds’.
The first issue he looks at is doubt: people may doubt, for example, whether God loves them, whether He answers prayer, or whether the Bible is true. Selwyn, further on, makes this observation: “Keep in mind, that many doubts are not in the mind but in the heart. Some are intellectual, but most are emotional. By this I mean the person may be carrying a deep hurt which causes them to question the truth and reality of their intellectual beliefs. Don’t be in too much of a hurry to give answers. Get alongside the person and show, by listening and understanding, that you care.”
What’s your view on the highlighted point above? I think it perhaps has a lot to do with your personality – for example, I’m an ‘ideas’ person – and, so I spend a lot of time thinking about issues, and although I may wrestle, at great lengths, with various thoughts I rarely become emotional about these sorts of issues.
Maybe, it’s when you have invested a lot of yourself into following a particular lifestyle, and that lifestyle isn’t delivering the sort of outcomes you expect, then it becomes an emotional issue for your heart – and doubts arise.
Take for example, these verses from today’s scripture (Luke 24:19-27, NLT), set for reading and meditation – the two followers of Jesus, who were walking to the village of Emmaus, had hoped that Jesus was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel, they now thought that their hope was in vain – which gave rise to doubts; listen to how Jesus handles their doubts: “The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago.
“Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive! Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said.”
Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”
Consequently, this is also, an excellent example for us – when we have doubts about issues like God’s love for us: first pray for guidance and a listening heart, and then go to the Scriptures and read the accounts, concerning God’s love for all His people. Sometimes, we need to take the opposite journey, for our hearts to convince our intellect, after our hearts have journey with Christ on His way to His crucifixion, and our hearts have felt His pain and suffering – this is the sort of heart-felt evidence which can convince a doubting mind. Do you agree?
Common Christian problems
Selwyn now looks at ‘some of the issues and struggles that arise in our hearts and minds’.
The first issue he looks at is doubt: people may doubt, for example, whether God loves them, whether He answers prayer, or whether the Bible is true. Selwyn, further on, makes this observation: “Keep in mind, that many doubts are not in the mind but in the heart. Some are intellectual, but most are emotional. By this I mean the person may be carrying a deep hurt which causes them to question the truth and reality of their intellectual beliefs. Don’t be in too much of a hurry to give answers. Get alongside the person and show, by listening and understanding, that you care.”
What’s your view on the highlighted point above? I think it perhaps has a lot to do with your personality – for example, I’m an ‘ideas’ person – and, so I spend a lot of time thinking about issues, and although I may wrestle, at great lengths, with various thoughts I rarely become emotional about these sorts of issues.
Maybe, it’s when you have invested a lot of yourself into following a particular lifestyle, and that lifestyle isn’t delivering the sort of outcomes you expect, then it becomes an emotional issue for your heart – and doubts arise.
Take for example, these verses from today’s scripture (Luke 24:19-27, NLT), set for reading and meditation – the two followers of Jesus, who were walking to the village of Emmaus, had hoped that Jesus was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel, they now thought that their hope was in vain – which gave rise to doubts; listen to how Jesus handles their doubts: “The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago.
“Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive! Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said.”
Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”
Consequently, this is also, an excellent example for us – when we have doubts about issues like God’s love for us: first pray for guidance and a listening heart, and then go to the Scriptures and read the accounts, concerning God’s love for all His people. Sometimes, we need to take the opposite journey, for our hearts to convince our intellect, after our hearts have journey with Christ on His way to His crucifixion, and our hearts have felt His pain and suffering – this is the sort of heart-felt evidence which can convince a doubting mind. Do you agree?