Bread Crumbs – Devotions for Life

My temptation now is not to doubt Jesus, 

but to doubt myself. (1)

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You know these were spoken by an individual who lived in the 1800’s because you would never hear them voiced in America today.

In today’s world, any individual who would dare voice any thoughts about doubting himself or herself would receive an avalanche of scolding and correction.

Believe in yourself!

You can do it!

Go for It!

These are the epitaphs which drive our personality-centric culture of today.  

We have turned the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the power of God for salvation, into a gospel of self-actualization.  

The church, which is quick to join the chorus of culture, has added to the frenzy of proclaiming the omnipotence of the individual by misappropriating Paul’s words in Philippians 4:13.

Paul wrote:

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. (2)

God does not give us strength to do anything we want to do.  Instead, He strengthens us, He works through us, and He works in us to accomplish His will and His will alone.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed for the strength to do God’s will.  Even Jesus needed God’s strength to complete His journey through the cross.

Anything important which we accomplish is because God has strengthened us, not because we have an endless reservoir of inner personal strength and resolve.

When faced with the dilemma of whether to doubt yourself or to doubt God, doubt yourself.

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1. Hannah Whitall Smith and Melvin Easterday Dieter, The Christian’s Secret of a Holy Life : The Unpublished Personal Writings of Hannah Whitall Smith (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).

2. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Philippians 4:13.