There is a very interesting passage in the Bible that I have no doubt read many times but never REALLY read!  It is Matthew 28:17.  You may recognize this as the precursor to the “Great Commission,”  which it is, but there is a little nugget there that is so encouraging.  It says this:

“When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.”

What jumped out at me is that “some were doubtful.”  Taken in isolation like this, you may immediately wonder WHO was doubtful? In other words, what crowd are we talking about that had some worshipping Jesus and some doubtful?  Well verse 16 just before tell us it was the 11 disciples!  (For those of you who have forgotten, Judas was persona non-grata at this point as he had betrayed Jesus so the final count as Jesus headed to heaven was only 11).

Imagine that….these are the men who had left family and friends to follow Jesus as their Rabbi.  They had seen Him heal the blind, deaf and sick as well as raise dead people to life.  They had then seen him whipped, beaten and hung on a cross to finally die and be buried in a tomb.  Finally he had arisen 3 days later in a glorious reversal of hell’s intentions and had remained on earth for 40 days teaching.  This is the Jesus that “some worshipped”…while “some were doubtful!”

Sometimes when we have doubts we may be tempted to think we are disqualified as followers of Jesus, but even some of the 11 doubted.  Church History reports that every one of these men went to their deaths for the cause of Christ.    It is not how you start, but how you finish.  Our doubts don’t keep us from being God’s children through Jesus!  Be encouraged that while you may doubt, you can trust Jesus to be a Good Shepherd.  Of course, this means making a decision to follow Him!