Leave no doubt!
We
have to live with doubt not only because we lack sufficient information
to come to a final conclusion about many
things but also because we’re
limited in our ability to process information and relate to life’s
situations. That’s part of the human condition even for good and wise
and caring people so we shouldn’t grovel in shame over it even though at
times, depending on what’s at stake, we’re deeply saddened that we
don’t know how best to help or respond.
But beyond that, there are those who tell us that we should profess uncertainty always in all circumstances about all
things. This is nonsense as well as impossible. G.K Chesterton
protested against that spurious humility when he looked around him and
surmised that one of these days we’re going to be so humble that we’ll
doubt that two plus two equal four.
To
know something is not to know everything but it’s not to know nothing
either! We can’t be sure of everything but it’s nonsense to say we can
be sure of nothing! Caution and reserving judgement is healthy but too
much “humility” is possible and saturating our speech on just about
everything with phrases like, “of course, on the other hand” is a
mental/social disease.
A know-it-all is a bore and often arrogant but the mealy-mouthed is tedious and often gutless
In
a movie an American football coach is earnestly calling his team to
wholehearted commitment to the game at hand and urges them to make it
clear to their opponents that they had come out to engage in war, so to
speak. His final word of instruction is: “Leave no doubt!”
Not
everything that Christians believe is absolutely certain or clear but
some things are and in these matters Christians should leave no doubt!
“There
is one true God and it is the God that has revealed himself to us in
and as Jesus Christ and we’re his followers!” Of that the Christian
should leave no doubt.
Others don’t believe that and for one reason or another, or for many reasons, they cannot yet believe it; but that’s not to the point. These people aren’t Christians and they don’t profess to be.
Christians are to leave no doubt!
They’re
not to apologise or to waver or to mumble; they’re not to equivocate!
They’re not to suggest or imply or hint or guess or settle for “the
preponderance of the evidence”. In this matter they’re not to act
uncertain or to dither or vacillate
They’re to leave no doubt!
They may be wrong but if they’re wrong they aren’t a little wrong, they’re profoundly wrong!
They’re not to have one eye on the biblical witness and one eye on the
latest poll or what book’s in the best-seller list. They’re not to wring
their hands or anguish in the night about what governments or courts
will decide about how they can or must express their faith. They’re not
to have one foot in the door of the church and the other dragging just
in case they feel the need to beat a sheepish retreat; half-heartedness
in this area is not permissible. They have no back doors to slip out of,
no lawyer-like covering of their tracks to fall back on and if they’re
wrong then of all the people in the world they’re the most pathetic.
Christians are to leave no doubt!
If
they discovered their faith is false their dismay should be written all
over them! They should be devastated and red-faced. They should make it
known that if Jesus Christ is a fraud or a myth or if he was demented
or misunderstood—if anything like that is true the Christians should
make it known that their entire world has collapsed around them and that
they’ve been hoodwinked in no uncertain manner.
Christians
have no right to be insolent or scornful of others but neither do they
have any grounds to beat around the bush or be evasive. We’re not
gingerly “testing the Christian waters”; we're in over our heads. Our
wholehearted confession is that Jesus is Lord and in him the one true
God has unveiled himself and his eternal intentions regarding the human
family.
This we believe and Christians should leave no doubt!