We acknowledge the Father’s love and Jesus’ work in justifying us by grace alone by faith alone, but secretly believe we need to pursue sanctification largely by our own efforts. Or we see the call of the gospel, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11), and wonder how, knowing our continuing weakness, we are going to learn to love like God! So, we buy lots of Christian “how to” books and search for the latest iteration of “The Secret of the Victorious Christian Life.” These are not necessarily bad, but sometimes they reveal a deficient theology of the Holy Spirit, and the Christian life becomes a burdensome endeavor. 

The Struggle to Believe

I have the spiritual gift of stating the obvious. Here goes: “All believers struggle to believe.” Some more, some less, but all struggle. From Genesis 3 all the way to our present day, the life of faith is a fight to believe what we say we believe (2 Tim. 4:7). Besides the testimony of our own hearts, we see this in counseling all the time. For example, a person might profess a strong belief in God’s affectionate and meticulous sovereignty in his life, all the while anxiously trying to control people and circumstances.

It would be helpful here to distinguish doubt from unbelief. Unbelief is more of a refusal to trust, draw near, and obey, while doubt is more of a struggle to do the same. An example of the former is Zephaniah 3:2: “She listens to no voice; she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the Lord; she does not draw near to her God.” An example of the latter is Mark 9:24: “Immediately the father of the child cried out, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’” Jesus responds to both unbelief and doubt in the gospels: with settled unbelief, he responds with sharp censure (John 5:39-42), while with doubt, he responds with more gentle disapproval (Matt. 14:31). Doubt is less serious but must still be fought for the glory of God and the good of our souls.

With this clarification, I would like to share three important things Christians often struggle to believe; one for each member of the Trinity. For each, I will state the doubt and briefly explain possible negative results of living into the doubt instead of fighting it.

Trinitarian Doubts

The First Thing We Struggle to Believe Is That the Father’s Love Is Enough

We know and believe the Father loves us (1 John 4:16), but we secretly wonder if that is enough to make us secure in our identity and sense of belonging and worth. And so, like the old country song, we go “lookin’ for love in all the wrong places.”[1] We may seek that “extra” love through affirmations from friends and family, or in a romantic relationship. The latter is especially alluring but insidious. We meet someone, fall in love, and declare our desire to spend the rest of our lives with them. So far, so good. But what can happen is we put the crushing weight of filling our insatiable craving for love on them, harming the relationship, and burying them under an intolerable burden. For the glory of God, the good of others, and our own stability, we can and should believe that the Father’s love is enough.

The Second Struggle Is to Believe That Jesus’ Work on Our Behalf Is Enough

The Bible teaches that through His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus has fulfilled all the covenant requirements and borne all the covenant-breaking punishments. We are freed from the guilt, power, and consequences of sin to love God and others, which is truly “the good life.” And yet, this sometimes seems too good to be true. Our default legalism, combined with the merit-based culture we live in, conspires to tempt us to believe we need to supplement Jesus’ work to be “fully and permanently” saved.

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