Allow me to introduce you to my friend Billy Charles (not his real name, but we’ll get to that later). Billy has been in my life as long as I can remember. I can’t think of a time when he wasn’t there.

Billy is the kind of friend that many people have. He’s very spiritual. He inspires me with words like, “God will heal that person that you pray for, if it’s His will.” He also reminds me that “God never changes, so you should be skeptical of new things.”

Billy has a lot to say about many topics. For example, “People are always out to get what they can. Don’t trust them.” He also reminds me that “Love has its limits. Sooner or later, you’ll get booted.” And finally, he encourages me, “No one is perfect. So don’t worry about it.”

Perhaps you have met this “friend”. Really, he’s not a friend. I had a moment where I saw what he was clearly; it was during a recent discussion with a friend. Father was gracious enough to pull the blinders off my eyes for me to see what was really going on. I introduced him to you as Billy Charles, but really, he has another name–I call him the Believing Cynic.

The Believing Cynic hides easily in Christian circles–and in many churches. He masquerades as a “reasonable” Christian who does believe the Bible and does believe God. Yet, there is something different about him. It’s not that he doubts at times, but rather that he lives a life of quiet doubt. Even his so-called statements of faith hide the cynical side of his nature.

For example, “That person will be healed if it’s God’s will.” Does the Word of God ever tell us that it’s not Father’s will to heal? We do ask that question, and many people have developed that argument, but it’s a clever trick to hide their unbelief. We are not called to answer why people are or are not healed. We are only called to assert that Father is the Healer and declare “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Another example, “No one is perfect. So just accept God’s grace and move on.” It’s true. No one is perfect. But does that make God’s Word any less truthful? Not at all! What someone is really saying when they say that is this: “Don’t expect me to be able to live according to how God wants me to live. I’m a failure and I will mess up.” It’s true, only one Person was ever perfect on this earth. He taught us what love looks like. We are often afraid to try and love like that. We are afraid first of failing, and second of being hurt. For if we love like Jesus truly loved, it invites someone to attack us.

Faith is often hard. It is often a mystery. There is much we don’t understand, but we do ourselves a disservice when we make assumptions. We are called to believe God’s Word and stand in faith. Pray for healing. Pray according to His will. Ask. Seek. Knock. And keep on knocking until He makes His answer clear to you.

The next time Billy comes to your door with his words of encouragement and inspiration, do what I plan to do: shut the door in his face, and keep it shut. Bolt the door and declare what the Word of God says.