What Is the Best Book of the Bible to Read When You Doubt Your Faith?
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Have you ever doubted your faith? All Christians have, at some point, wondered if their faith is strong enough, good enough, focused on the right person and/or thing. You may ask, “Am I okay with God?” or “Have I done enough (praying, Scripture reading, loving, etc.?)”
Guess what? None of us has done enough to please God.
But we know the One who has — Jesus Christ. He brought us to faith by His Spirit (John 6:63). He sustains our faith (John 6:35), and He will perfect our faith. John 19:30 tells us His work is complete, and that includes perfecting our faith.
The pattern of verse references here tells us the Gospel of John is a wonderful book to read when we doubt our faith. The supernatural nature of Scripture — written by God (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21) — shows us the rest of Scripture corroborates what John writes.
As we look into how the Gospel of John helps our faith, we will have many cross-references so you can experience the beauty of how Scripture not only agrees in all its aspects but also reveals the depth of God’s love for us (John 3:16). No matter how much we doubt or how unfaithful we are, God is faithful, and He never changes (2 Timothy 2:13; Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8).
It Takes Faith to Live in This Crazy World
Consider Abraham, the one God called to become a great nation. The New Testament tells us Abraham believed God and his faith was credited to him as righteousness (Romans 4:9; Hebrews 11:8). Yet Abraham doubted God’s promise (Genesis 12; 15:2-3).
Moses too suffered a crisis of faith (Exodus 3:11, 4:1; Numbers 20:1-13).
King David, through whom the promised Savior and King would come, showed great doubt (1 Samuel 21:12; 27:1; Psalm 13:1-2). When we regard the Psalms penned by David, however, they point to Christ and apply to His life on earth).
And when we think of ones who doubt, one of the first people who comes to mind is Thomas, one of Jesus’ disciples (who became an Apostle) who spent three years with the Lord (John 14:5).
When we are confronted with doubt, we must place our faith in something and/or someone. Humanity is fallen and, even though Christians are saved, we still battle with our flesh. Look at what the Apostle Paul said about spiritual wrestling: He couldn’t do what he wanted to do because of his fleshly nature (Romans 7:15-20).
Christian, the object of our faith is the Cornerstone on which all we believe stands. Take heart, we know the One in Whom our faith abides — Jesus Christ, the Cornerstone. He builds His church (Ephesians 2:19-22), and nothing will stop Him (Matthew 16:18).
How the Gospel of John Helps Us with Our Faith
The Apostle John tells us he wrote his Gospel so we will believe in Jesus. John 20:30-31 assures us, “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”
Jesus took on flesh — became a man (fully God and fully man) — and displayed His deity by signs (John 2:11, 3:2; 6:2; 20:30) and fulfilling prophecy (Luke 24:13-27). By believing in Him, we have life in His name.
We don’t do anything to earn our salvation. That’s great faith-building news! When we think we have to work toward God’s favor or our standing before Him, we only need look to John 3:16, 6:63, and 14:6:
We probably all know John 3:16, “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (see also John 3:3-8). God sent His Son. We didn’t reach up for Him or call to Him. He came, and He planned all Christians’ salvation before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).
John 6:63 tells us, “The Spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh doesn’t help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” This is so good for our faith. The Spirit causes us to be born again. He gives us the faith to believe the Gospel (Jesus Christ), repent from our sins, and walk in Him.
John 14:6 extends Jesus’ proclamation of who He is, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” When we are in Christ, we are in union with He who is the Way to and of life, the Truth for all eternity, and our very lives. Because He lives, we live (John 14:19). Jesus will resurrect us to life eternal (John 5:21; Romans 5:21; 1 Corinthians 15:45; 1 John 1:1-2; Revelation 22:1).
Jesus extends His blessing to those of us who have believed without seeing Him. John 20:29 tells us, “Jesus said, ‘Because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.’”
John is the Word of God, and Romans 10:17 states, “So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.” Specific to this passage from Paul, when we hear the Gospel of John preached, our faith can and will be strengthened.
There Is Gracious Hope in Seasons of Doubt
John narrates the account of Peter’s denial of Jesus.
“’Lord,’ Simon Peter said to him, ‘where are you going?’ Jesus answered, ‘Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later.’ ‘Lord,” Peter asked, ‘why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’ Jesus replied, ‘Will you lay down your life for me? Truly I tell you, a rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times’” (John 13:36-38).
And Peter indeed denied Jesus three times. At the sound of the rooster, the Gospel of Luke adds a heart-breaking fact, “Then the Lord turned and looked at Peter. So Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, ‘Before the rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.’ And he went outside and wept bitterly” (Luke 22:61-62).
It’s hard for us to imagine Peter’s anguish when Jesus looked at him. No wonder he wept bitterly. But this lack of faith in Christ did not prove Peter’s end, for Christ restored him in a setting that took place over the same type of fire that Pater had denied him. Imagine the memories the smell of a charcoal fire wrought in Peter. Yet in John 21:1-19, Jesus comes to His disciples after His resurrection and restores Peter, telling him to feed His lambs (the church).
Jesus had earlier said to Peter, “Simon, Simon, look out. Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31-31).
Just as Jesus knew Peter would temporarily fail in faith, He knew he would also be restored. When we regard Peter’s lack of faith and how the Lord had compassion on him, and Peter’s faith was restored to overflowing (read Acts and 1 and 2 Peter for details), we know there is gracious hope for us.
Our Faith Is Secure Because God Is Faithful
No matter how we feel, the Lord is seeing to our sanctification. It’s one of the truths of a Christian’s life. Christianity is supernatural, and the Lord Jesus prayed for our sanctification in His High Priestly prayer (John 17). What Jesus prays is always according to God’s will and He always lives to intercede for us (Hebrews 7:25).
Verses 17 and 19 says, “Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth … I sanctify Myself for them, so that they also may be sanctified by the truth.” He always does what He says He will (Numbers 23:19). Our faith in the Lord is secure because He is righteous and faithful.
When we focus on what Jesus did as recorded in the book of John, we see a compassionate, loving, just, sovereign, holy, and true Creator and Savior. John said, “And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which, if every one of them were written down, I suppose not even the world itself could contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25).
We can say the same about superlatives and titles of the Lord Jesus Christ. The small list above only scratches the surface. As you read about Jesus, your faith will soar and you will add to the list above. He is matchless in wonder and magnificent in Being. He, as Revelation 1:8 and 22:13 say, is the “Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Because of who He is, our faith grows as He takes us “from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Pastor Jeffrey Perry and John Meeks say, “We can't ask is our faith sufficient? Is our faith enough? Because every time we ask that, we'll come back with the same answer. And the answer is no. It's never sufficient. What we have to ask is, is Christ sufficient?” That’s what the book of John helps us understand. Christ is all sufficient. We look to Him in all of life and for all of faith.
The list above recounting the many ways John’s Gospel is the “best” to read when we doubt our faith is not large enough, but it’s a start. I pray you experience many more ways the Lord grows your faith as you read not only John’s Gospel but the rest of the Bible as well.
What Other Way Can I Gain Assurance for My Faith?
Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.”
We read Romans 10:17 above, which tells us we need to hear the Word proclaimed. Solo Bible study is good, but we mustn’t become singular in our study of God’s Word. Our faith is sustained by Christ through His ordinary (ordained) means of grace, which He imparts to us every Lord’s Day through the preaching of the Word, prayer with your church, and the sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and baptisms. When we join our brothers and sisters in our church on Sundays, Christ pours His grace into us, and our faith matures and we flourish.
The Lord’s Supper is not just eating a cracker and sipping a taste of juice. In John 6:57, Jesus said, "Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of Me.
Mark 14:22-25 describes the Lord’s Supper, “As they were eating, he took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to them, and said, ‘Take it; this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I tell you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.’”
Behold Christ. Believe in Him. Grow in Him. Rest in Him. No greater truths exist to build your faith.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/fizkes
