APP: Our teen years are frequently filled with doubt. We often find ourselves stuck between belief and disbelief. Life stuff causes us to lack confidence and be unsure about things like self-image, relationships, abilities, faith, and even the future. We doubt when we feel inadequate—sometimes as a result of comparing ourselves to others or false standards. Doubt can create trust issues or a kind of paralysis that can cause us to put off doing something good, but is out of our comfort zone. It can weigh us down with fear and dread so we don’t pursue and accomplish what we are passionate about.
Doubt isn’t always bad. It can lead us to question when things don’t seem right or we don’t completely understand. Doubt can also tell a friend that we care enough to find out what’s really going on in their lives when they tell us “everything’s cool…you don’t have to worry about me.” Sometimes doubt can help us to deepen our faith as we search for answers to the questions we can’t seem to let go of. Doubt can be healthy if it motivates us to search for the truth.
But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.
JAMES 1:6 NLT
I desire therefore that in every place men should pray, without anger or quarreling or resentment or doubt [in their minds], lifting up holy hands.
1 TIMOTHY 2:8 AMP
“Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.”
MARK 11:23 NIV
But if you have doubts about whether or not you should eat something, you are sinning if you go ahead and do it. For you are not following your convictions. If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.
ROMANS 14:23 NLT
Thomas said, “My Master! My God!” Jesus said, “So, you believe because you’ve seen with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing.”
JOHN 20:28–29 MSG