I galloped into the wild, wild West to pastor a church in Phoenix at 29 years old. After four years of rubbing elbows with other senior pastors, I’ve been surprised, in a good way, by the number of young men engaged in ministry with a heart for the gospel and a zeal to make Jesus famous in our valley.
I’m delighted to see brothers grappling with the enormity of God’s activity in salvation and an increasing conviction that reformation begins with preaching his Word—but that it doesn’t stop there. Young reformers are wrestling with the theological implications our ecclesiology should have on our evangelism. The two should share a symbiotic relationship. God’s Word creates God’s people, and, in turn, God’s people proclaim God’s Word to the lost.
Scalpels, Not Chainsaws
While we have a lot of talented preachers and missiologists in the hopper, we need to make sure we don’t neglect our calling to be spiritual cardiologists—surgeons of the heart. Of course, the ultimate heart surgeon is God, who removes cold, stony hearts and replaces them with hearts of flesh (Ezek. 36:26). But our redeemed people still suffer from disease-riddled hearts and need human surgeons, led by the Spirit, to apply God’s Word with the precision of a scalpel, not a chainsaw.
Few situations demand a competent surgeon more than people doubting their salvation. Quality care demands we diagnose the particular kind of doubt ailing our patient. Some doubt they are Christians because they are, in fact, not Christians. Of course, I always try to give the benefit of the doubt, but pastors must recognize this possibility. Spiritually dead people don’t need Band-Aids; they need defibrillators. They need the heavy shock of the gospel, accompanied by prayer that the Holy Spirit would haunt them with doubt until they turn from sin, death, and Satan to Christ alone.
Half the Gospel Leads to Doubt
Others struggling with doubt, however, actually believe. Christian doubts may arise from a variety of origins, but most common is trusting only half the gospel. These Christians know they deserve judgment for sinning against their good Creator. They probably sense the horror of sin more sincerely than do the rest of us, and maybe that’s because we don’t really sense sin’s horror. When was the last time we wept over a particular sin?
But that’s only half the story. Our horrific sins only prepare us for Christ’s dramatic rescue. Paralysis of doubt can often prevent true Christians from seeing and grasping Jesus. The guilt and filth of sin can cloud out the hope and joy of the cross and resurrection. So while we may intellectually know the gospel’s power, we do not experience it. Therefore, our souls must be flooded with the reality of their new identity in Christ. In him, all things are made new, the filthy are made clean, the sinful are made holy, the dead are made alive, slaves are made sons, and enemies are made friends.
9 Questions for Diagnosing Doubt
Christians doubt their salvation for a host of reasons. Sometimes, what we call doubt is really the Spirit’s prompting to change. The good surgeon slices clean lines between legalism and antinomianism, even though our hands tend toward one or the other and might potentially nick an artery. Here are some helpful diagnostic, “pre-operation” questions I ask strugglers to help me assess their situation.
1. Have you repented and trusted in Jesus the Christ (Mark 1:15)?
2. Could physical issues be responsible for your doubt? Do you get enough sleep? Are you sick? Such things could be affecting your relationship with God (James 5:13-16).
3. Have you experienced any traumatic events lately? Have you moved, had kids, changed jobs, lost a loved one, or been diagnosed with a series illness (Job)?
4. Are you persisting in sins of omission (not doing what you should)—such as not reading Scripture, praying, serving at church, and so forth (James 4:17)?
5. Are you persisting in sins of commission (doing what you shouldn’t)—such as looking at pornography, dating an unbeliever, or drinking too much? The Holy Spirit could be warning you of a discrepancy between who you are and how you’re living (1 John 1:6-9).
6. Do you have a broken relationship that needs reconciliation? Human relationships affect our relationship with God. Could it be that until you pursue peace with others you won’t sense peace with God (Matt. 5:21-26)?
7. Do you know who you are in Christ? Perhaps you simply lack understanding of the brilliance of God’s gospel (Eph. 1).
8. Have you become spiritually bored because you aren’t leaning into the gospel in costly ways? Is your life too safe (Rev. 3:14-22)?
9. Are you suffering from a downcast soul? Perhaps you need to preach truth to your own heart like the psalmist does (Ps. 42).
Hopefully these questions will help us diagnose people more accurately as we seek to skillfully engage in the work of spiritual cardiology. Remember, the steady hands of a skilled spiritual surgeon can deliver someone from death to life, while the hands of a sloppy surgeon can take someone from life to death. Where our work cuts to the heart, we can expect to see communities of healing and hope.
Is there enough evidence for us to believe the Gospels?
In an age of faith deconstruction and skepticism about the Bible’s authority, it’s common to hear claims that the Gospels are unreliable propaganda. And if the Gospels are shown to be historically unreliable, the whole foundation of Christianity begins to crumble.
