Trusting the Goodness of God

Trusting the goodness of God is one of the great challenges in life. In scripture Peter felt fear and faltered.

Much focus on faltering in preaching is on Peter, but all the disciples faltered to a degree. Often we try to place ourselves higher than the apostles.

They had doubts and faltered at times. Trusting God is hard because life is hard.

Trusting God is an element of faith that is not normal for fallen people. God is on our side.

Being honest about our shortcomings allows us to grow. If we struggle at times to trust God we can take comfort that God knows our nature.

God calls those with doubts and struggles into the fellowship and comfort of eternal fellowship with himself.

The Problem with Statements Disguised as Questions

Post by
Michelle Dowell, Contributor

Some people believe that in discussing topics like theology, lots of questions can help. While this may be true, questions aren't always the best in all cases.

Out of fear a person may say a question, but really the question is an opinion disguised as a question. It is a tool to hide an opinion. It's not entirely honest: It's pretending to be inquisitive when really the purpose is to put an opinion out there without taking ownership of it to try to influence a decision or person in some way.

It's fine when a person isn't sure about an opinion he or she has and wants to know what another person thinks, or when a person wants to know what another person really thinks on a subject. The difficulty is when the person asking the question is very sure of what they think the answer should be and honestly doesn't care what the other person thinks.

It is unloving in another way: it requires the person being asked the question to needlessly use energy because they may not know that it's merely a disguised statement, that the person doesn't care about the answer, only about influencing in some way.

Rhetorical questions can be fine, if used appropriately as a literary device and not disguised as an actual question.

The Messiness of Life

Post by
Michelle Dowell
Co-Contributor

A theology that is missing an acknowledgement of the messiness of life is deficient. I heard a pastor say once "God is a God of order." That is absolutely true, but I am more encouraged to know that God is a God who, in his mercy, allows people in a messy world with a messy nature to still take part in serving him.

This fallen condition of the world and humans is a hard reality, but the fact that we are allowed to participate in God's work of loving and helping people and honoring him in the midst of it all--that is what is encouraging. It's broken, but we're called to work with that brokenness, to help when we can to put pieces back together if it's possible. Let's focus on that, but also not forget the state of everything being tainted by the Fall. It's discouraging to always try to grasp for the impossible of perfection in this life.

It's sad to see so many Christians try so hard to always force a smile. It's as if they feel if they don't appear that everything is perfect and in order in their life and if they aren't happy in that moment, something is missing. They may feel that their smile doesn't look forced, but often it's easy to see if a person is forcing it if a person is really wanting to know.

I'm not saying that Christians should grumpily walk around. Christians should show more genuine emotions. They should trust that it's okay to not feel happy every moment of the day, and to allow others to see that. It may mean not having much of an expression but it's honest and frees others of the pressure to pretend to be what one is not.


It's not one or the other: Not happy or sad all the time. But a variety of emotions at different times. This is life. It is an adventure, a calling, a journey.