This interaction with the Baptist shows us that, in some ways, Jesus almost assumes that we’ll have some doubts. Yet it’s what we do with those doubts that matters. John was honest about his doubts; he didn’t hide them or hang on to them or leave them alone in the recesses of his heart and mind. He verbalized them and exposed them to the light. He faithfully did what he was supposed to do: he fulfilled his calling as the messenger who came before the Messiah, and then took his doubts directly to Jesus.
One of the books that I own is filled with illustrations for sermons and as I was working on this message I pulled it off the shelf and opened it up to the topic of doubt. The editor included a story of two men who were trying to orbit the earth in a hot air balloon. Their balloon was specially designed for the trip and it cost $1.5 million, but within hours after they started a clamp that cost $1.16 broke, causing kerosene to leak everywhere. They were forced to ditch the balloon in the ocean.
The editor then wrote, “It doesn’t take much to undermine a great enterprise. God intends the Christian life to be a triumphant journey but often we allow little things like doubt to scuttle God’s plan.” I could not disagree more. I’m not strong enough or big enough to scuttle God’s plan — even if I wanted too! Doubts can be distressing and they might even linger for months or years but God is far bigger than my doubts and by His grace I can work through them.
The problem isn’t that we’re going to have some doubts throughout our lives; the real problem is being double-minded about God and what He’s doing. Listen to Jesus in vv. 16-19: To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.” For John came neither eating nor drinking and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and ‘sinners’.
The Demand for a Decision: Will We Dedicate Ourselves to Christ or Go Our Own Way? (vv. 16-19)
It’s not the sincere doubts of dedicated disciples like the Baptist that bother Jesus. It’s the fickleness of faith among those who know the good things that He’s doing; who hear the soothing words of His grace in their lives but can’t make a commitment. They’re like children who — regardless of what you do — can never be made to be happy. It’s not that they’re uninformed, unaware or dumb; it’s that they’re double-minded.