Most Christians waver in their faith at different times in life, and for a variety of reasons. Sometimes we believers get very much caught up in the possibility of “success” in this life, which takes much time and energy, and often leaves us Sabbath-less (exhausted). Pastors tend to this error as much as anyone else. Like the action of the thorns Jesus describes in Matt 13:7 and 22, this course of action leads to a faith choked by the rat race.

Sometimes Christians waver in their trust in the Lord because of the fleshly desire we often get to come to God as an inference of our own logical processes. We believe so long as we are continuously and consciously holding what we believe to be good evidence for the existence of God, the trustworthiness of the Bible, the resurrection of Christ, and the inability of any and all other worldviews to answer life’s biggest questions. The problem is unless a person has the mind of Einstein it is easy to allow some of this important apologetic information to slip from day to day. Do we stop being Christian on days when we feel ill, and our minds are not working as they normally do? Do we stop being Christian when a mental disease, say Alzheimer’s, removes out capacity to hold this evidence competently?

Often Christians waver in their faith because of certain, personal besetting sins. Sins that are very difficult to discard, and that, like water to a fire, have a tendency to extinguish the flames of faith. Sexual sin dominates in this category, especially among men, but there is also greed, and the hunger for power, among others. People have a tendency to pick their own poison. Because we love our sin we turn our backs on the Lord (who wants us to stop).

So what is a Christian? And what is a Christian to do when he is tempted to waffle in his faith in the Lord?

Put simply, a Christian is a person who has been given a new heart by the Holy Spirit (regeneration or new birth), and who thus desires to follow after Jesus Christ. A Christian is a person who actually wants to live the way Jesus lived, following in the gospel path of His life, wisdom, and virtue, and living daily in dependence upon Him for all things.

Therefore, when a Christian is tempted, for whatever reason, to ignore the Lord Jesus Christ, to succumb to the choking thorns so to speak, there is a real problem. Such a real problem, that it may even reveal that the person is a “Judas,” or a false believer, to whom the Lord says, “I never knew you; depart from me” (Matt 7:23).

I personally do not want to be in the camp of false believers. I want to be a true follower of Jesus Christ. So then, how do I deal with the reality that faith fluctuates?

Positive, classical apologetic arguments can help us a great deal. I can remember reasons from science that point to the existence of God (i.e., cosmological arguments and design arguments). I can refresh myself on the moral argument for God’s existence. I can remember the many lines of physical evidence for the resurrection of Christ, and the trustworthiness of the Bible. And negatively, I can meditate on problems with other worldviews and religions. This does help some as long as my mind is working properly. But this process by itself is insufficient, and can sometimes lead to arrogance and pride. Again, forcing God to submit to a man’s logical process can sometimes produce the opposite of worship.

I also can fight sin in my own life. I can wage war against the thorns that are attempting to choke away my faith. If I am a true believer, then I am indwelt by the greatest and mightiest power in the universe, the Holy Spirit Himself. This also helps, but not always. Sometimes this process (when done in the flesh) leads to legalism. Instead of bearing the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23), we often bear the fruit of the Pharisees. Rather than trusting Christ more, we come to trust our own will power as a way of finding merit with the Lord. Again, arrogance and pride are often the result.

So even if I get all my rational arguments in a row, and even if I subdue all my known sin, I still run into the problem of forgetting my arguments (within a day or two), and of remembering the billions of other besetting sins I am yet to deal with!

So it comes down to this. I must trust the divine-man Jesus Christ. Everybody trusts in somebody (sometimes it is self) to explain how people came into existence, and what is the meaning of life. Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners, embodies existence and purpose. He claimed to be “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). Do I believe Him or not? If I do not believe Him, who else am I to believe? Do I trust the Darwinists who tell me man is a mere machine, an accidental animal, with no intrinsic value to speak of? Do I trust the pantheistic authorities, who are trying to convince me that “I” do not exist at all? How could “I” possibly concede to that?

I must trust somebody. What about myself? If I trust my own gut on this matter, that would be a gigantic mistake. The Bible calls me a wicked sinner, and it is correct in its assessment (Rom 3:23). As a sinner, who knows what sort of explanation I will come up with regarding the meaning and purpose of my own existence? No doubt it will be twisted and wrong, especially considering my own finitude.

BUT I MUST TRUST SOMEBODY! Who is more trustworthy than Jesus Christ? Who opens the eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf, and causes lame feet to walk? Who gave of Himself in such a sacrificial way, through His death on the cross, in order to provide salvation for lowest of the low, and dirtiest of the dirty?

When a believer’s faith wanes, Jesus Christ, the perfect Person and Savior of mankind, must be the stable anchor that brings us back. He is not an inference, or the conclusion of an argument. He is not something we can figure out. He is the God who is there, Creator, Sustainer, and glorified King.

Being Christian means having a new heart from the Holy Spirit and following Jesus no matter what. Trust Him.