To call God “Father” and be filled with anxiety and doubts is to deny his name.
— John R. W. Stott, Basic Christianity (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1980), 66.
Welcome to Reflections
My hope is that this blog will help and challenge Christians to think carefully about the implications of their worldview.
-Kenneth Richard SamplesNow available at shop.reasons.org!
Isnt it just being an imperfect human that can sometimes cause even a Christian to sometimes have a stab of doubt & then feel anxious about it calling on the Father for help & understanding? What am I missing here?
Occasional doubt and anxiety are a normal part of every day life even for the Christian. But Stott seems to be speaking to a deeper issue. To call God “Father” (confident trust in a sovereign and loving God) is incompatible with the state of being “filled with anxiety and doubts.” Many people today (including Christians) struggle with strong emotional and mental insecurities. But Scripture teaches us that God is in control and can be trusted to faithfully watch over our lives (Romans 8:28).