Jesus said, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” Ordinarily we think of doubt as the opposite of faith. Jesus suggests that actually fear is what makes faith difficult. If you think of it, doubt is something that lives in me. My doubts arise from my own perceptions of what is going on. Fear, on the other hand, comes from something external to us. We are afraid that something more powerful than us will rob us of health or happiness. Faith is throwing ourselves into the arms of God knowing that there isn’t anything out there which can keep God from loving us (cf. Romans 8:39). We live in times when there seem to be good reason to be afraid: the perversity of human nature has joined with technological prowess to create the potential to destroy the world. We need more than ever to heed the words of Jesus and trust that God has not abandoned us but continues to work so that all will be well.
