UNLESS I SEE

• DAY 123
• Fear File: THOMAS
• SCRIPTURES: JOHN 20:24-27

“Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.””

John 20:24-27

So if you’ve ever wondered where the title, ‘Doubting Thomas’ came from, this is the scripture. Thomas was one of the disciples of Jesus, and we gave him this title for doubting the resurrection news of Jesus. You know, I wonder who decided to make Thomas the poster boy for doubt. That person was quite unfair. They missed the doubt of the other disciples and decided to pick on Thomas. The people that told him the good news doubted too, at first. 

They rushed to the tomb to verify when the women came with their own story and they only now believed because they had actually seen Jesus for themselves. They saw the hole in His hands and feet and so they had some kind of evidence.

But as far as Thomas was concerned, it was mere word of mouth. He had no idea Jesus would come back to life ‘literally’ neither did the other disciples and we saw this in our study yesterday (click here to read). Last he checked Jesus was arrested, tortured, killed, embalmed and then buried, as far as he was concerned, It was really finished. To now hear that Jesus was alive and walking amongst them was difficult to believe. And not just for him alone, all the disciples as well, at least until they saw for themselves.

Could You be Thomas?

We too doubt when we hear of things we haven’t experienced personally or witnessed with our own very eyes. Like the workings of some kinds of miracles. I’ve seen TV programs where shorter limbs grew and it seemed both incredulous and amazing. But mostly it was incredulous, so I concluded that the healed person was either special or a scammer.

We hear about things that people have experienced and it can be difficult for us to believe that those things will ever happen in our own lives. When we are sick and we hear that God healed someone’s illness that may or may not have been worse than ours, we want to believe. But somewhere inside us, we are asking ourselves, are we sure that this will actually happen? So before we harshly Judge Thomas or and stamp that name ‘doubting’ on him, let us look closely and discover that we are most likely like Thomas, if not even worse. 

There are some of us who still doubt, even when we have seen proof or experienced different miracles at different phases of our lives. We know His nature but we still find a way to doubt the grace, the goodness, mercies and promises of God concerning our lives. 

Evidence

Thomas not only doubted because what they said contradicted what he knew but also because  he was not in the room when Jesus gave the proof of His resurrection. 

Believing is difficult when we do not have evidence. Because we are humanly wired that way. We turn to our eyes to interpret the information coming from the ears and it ought not to be so for a person of faith.

We hear “you’re a mom!” But we disbelieve because our eyes saw a test that said “you can never be a mom” Jesus hasn’t come into our room yet. Even though we heard testimony that somebody somewhere had a baby at 65 or you hear of a person that had a child with PCOS or no fallopian tubes. But you say, “it happened to them, what is the assurance that it will happen to me? Maybe they are not giving me all the information. Maybe this is just people on the internet saying one thing and hiding a million things.” Doubters feel this way.

Dear Thomas,

Jesus says Blessed are you if you believe, though you have not seen (John 20:29). Blessed are you if you believe what He said into your ears even though your eyes haven’t seen it. 

You see, Jesus was gracious with dealing with the unbelief of the disciples and of Thomas. He came to them to show them the proof of His resurrection. Just as He has placed proof all around us but we are missing it. Same way Jesus walked in the room and the disciples missed Him at first.

The Bible tells us that the heavens declare the glory of the Lord and the firmament speaks of his power. So everytime the sun rises and sets, that is proof right there; proof of His faithfulness and power. That is already evidence of the goodness and grace of God in front of us. That is like Jesus walking into the room.

When we wait to see before believing, we are living outside the realms of faith and walking in fear.

An Evidence

What does the Bible say about faith? It is substance and evidence (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is formed through the word of God that we read. And the word contains testimonies and stories of people we have never met. Faith is your unshakable belief in the word of God. It’s your belief that God can do what He said when He said and how He said. Faith is a substance and when that substance is put up front, it becomes evidence for you. 

Beloved, you don’t need to satisfy you senses in other to trust God. Your senses can be mislead. You need only believe. Ain’t it funny how none of us have seen Jesus, yet we believe and we can’t believe His promises until we see evidence? Make it make sense.

God is calling us to walk by faith and not by sight. Let us not be doubters. Doubt hinders our ability to receive anything from God. Let us put our faith in His word and trust Him above all else.

And as always if you struggle with this as the Holy Spirt for help.

Shalom.