As I work with teenagers, one of the most common topics that comes up is doubt.

"Can I be a Christian if I have doubts?"
"I grew up so certain about what I believed... but I don't feel like that anymore..."
"I'm having a hard time with something... I feel like I'm going to get in trouble if I bring it up... I don't get how some of the things I heard about God growing up fit with things I'm learning in school... Don't tell my parents..."

I consistently find myself saying, "It is OK to have doubts! It is important that you ask tough questions and wrestle with them! That's one of the main ways you grow in your faith!"

We have a few options when we're faced with doubt... We can throw up our hands and walk away from faith, we can suppress our doubts and shove them down inside of us where they will eventually begin to rot and get smellier and smellier, or we can face tough issues head on and gear up for a wrestling match!

One of my favorite images when thinking about doubt is the story of the 3 little pigs. When we come to faith we "construct" a straw hut. It works as shelter and we feel at home in it! However, sooner or later life huffs and puffs at us and things we seemed so certain of suddenly start collapsing around us. At that point we have the opportunity to either give up or rebuild after rethinking our design... And eventually life is going to huff and puff again and again and we are consistently faced with the choice of walking away or reconstructing an increasingly strong shelter.

I encourage you to wrestle! Ask questions! Find people you trust and who care about you and ask them to wrestle/struggle/question with you!

(More on this tomorrow...)