Doubt and Discipleship

The Gospel reading for this week was Matthew 28:16-20. It's short so I'll cut and paste it for you:

"The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

I had not noticed that the whole passage, to the end of the chapter, is about the disciples. And, when they saw Jesus, they worshiped him and some of them doubted too. The disciples! Doubters. This doesn't seem to bother either Jesus or the author of Matthew. The writer takes sort of a wheat and tares approach to it, letting everything go on as it is knowing that it will all get sorted out in the end. Here, as in most of our churches and, if we are honest in our own hearts, doubt and discipleship go together. And, it's not such a big deal.

A blessed Feast of the Resurrection and a happy Trinity Sunday to you.

What I Learned From Joyce Meyer Today

"If God is in control then you don't need to know why."

I don't usually watch the Joyce Meyer TV show. I don't like the clothes she wears, I don't like her theology, and I don't like the way she talks. The whole thing makes me feel like I'm at a washateria. But I am curious enough about Joyce that if I happen to run across one of her TV sermons I'll stop and listen for a few minutes. This is what she said on my TV yesterday.

If God is in control then you don't need to know why.

If I were guessing, I'd say that fully half of the angst in my life is over the question of why. I won't give you a litany of all my big WHY questions. You probably have enough of your own without hearing mine.

Why... all those things. Why indeed. And I've spent a good deal of time thinking, praying and bitching about my own why questions. But all of them boil down to WHY. Why.

I am a Christian, have been for a long time. I know that God is in control. I do. I know it. Yet I feel almost as if I have a right to know why certain things are the way they are. Not that I question God but sometimes it does seem like He may not have all the facts. If only I knew what God was thinking, maybe I could be of some assistance, helpful soul that I am.

In her own special way, Joyce Meyer finally gave me the perspective I've been missing on that. Probably the rest of you were reluctant to say it to me. But, it's just none of my business. What God does, why God does it... It's none of my business. I don't need to know.

I find it easier to trust God when God is doing things that I understand, especially if they are kind of in the direction I was trying to lead Him anyway... Know what I mean? But, if I really have any confidence in God, if I have any faith at all, then maybe I will get out of the business of monitoring God's activities and allow myself to be the subject of them, maybe I will stop passing judgment on God's reasoning and accept the fact that it is too high up there for me, maybe -- just maybe -- I can stop being God and let God do it for awhile.

Our Joyce