Skip to main content

Doubting Thomas

    Humans are back and forth, flesh and Spirit, yes and no, belief and unbelief. We sway with the winds of emotion and circumstance instead of staying grounded in the truth of the word like we ought. The times when it is most important for us to stay strong and apply the word to our lives is when it is most tempting to not believe. But what good does the word do us if we cannot believe and apply it to our lives as we were meant to? Otherwise it is just useless knowledge.

    In Jesus' time, there was a character who represents many of us in our faith. We refer to him now as "doubting Thomas." After his fellow disciples saw Jesus returned and resurrected, Thomas still could not believe it without seeing it. He had no real faith, you could say. It was so difficult to see beyond his own reality; especially when the reality of Jesus' resurrection seemed so impossible to him. However, the miracles of Jesus always seem impossible to us. For Thomas, he was able to see (and touch!) Jesus in the flesh and believe. But Jesus knew that would not always be the case. He calls those of us who would dare to believe without seeing blessed.

John 20:24-29 Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him,“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (ESV)


    When you are down to nothing, Jesus is up to something. Stop doubting what He has already promised you. He will not leave you nor forsake you and He has great things in store for you! His word is unfailing. Start speaking about your belief in His plans and not your doubt. I dare you to believe in the truth of Jesus Christ. It will change your life.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Think Twice

    When the Holy Spirit was sent to us on earth, it made Jesus readily available to all. Now He lives in us, not among us. When you are a born again Christian, you now have Jesus dwelling inside you. How does that affect your daily life? Do you realize that you are a reflection of the one you carry with you everywhere you go?    Sadly, that doesn't mean much to a lot of Christians. Instead of using Jesus as an instrument of love, hope, and salvation, they use His name as a weapon. They spend their time boycotting instead of praying for Jesus to change hearts. Telling others that the God who IS love, hates them. Letting others know that they will go to hell for their decisions, instead of lighting the way to heaven. Let me be clear: this is wrong! No one wants to believe in a hateful, unforgiving God. I certainly don't. That's why I follow Jesus.     Even if you aren't the one openly boycotting on street corners, be careful of the image of God you are g...

Seeing by Faith

    When we are trying to live by faith, the things that inhibit us are the things that are right under our noses. We are trained to live based on the things around us. We don't believe anything if we don't see proof of it. The things around us are more our reality than what we say we believe in. But the Bible tells us that we are to walk by faith and not by sight. We are to live based on what we know is truth, not by what we see.     The things we see around us distract us from the reality we should be living in. What is unseen is eternal and more important than the things of this world. We need to fix our eyes on what is lasting and know the difference. We need to be filling ourselves with the word and not the world. When we are distracted by the world, we forget the truth. We become discouraged and doubt our faith. We need to draw strength from one another so that we may run the race with endurance.     What is determining your reality today? Is i...

Pergamum

Revelation 2:13-16  “I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne, yet you have remained loyal to me. You refused to deny me even when Antipas, my faithful witness, was martyred among you there in Satan’s city. “But I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin. In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching. Repent of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth." (NLT)     To the church in Pergamum, Jesus commends them for their faithfulness. Interesting that what He told the church in Smyrna they were doing wrong was just what those in Pergamum were doing right! They lived in an area that made it particularly difficult to stay devoted to Christ because of all the persecution, yet...