“But Thomas, one of the twelve, who was called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
Are you a “Doubting Thomas” ? … If God doesn’t follow your plan, on your schedule, is your default reaction to doubt?
I, like Thomas, have the propensity to question and pout when I am disappointed. I sometimes give this “self-centered sulking” incredible power, ignoring the evidence around me in order to support my mood. Thomas stops short of calling his brothers liars, but he doubts them… These are faithful teammates that have proven themselves for years. Yet, he is skeptical of their testimony and though he stays with them, he clearly states that he refuses to believe.
He doesn’t say I “can’t” believe… He says I “won’t”. That is an important distinction... He makes a choice. You can almost see him with arms folded and a frown on his face… refusing to consider what his friends are telling him. There have been times of crisis when I have made the same choice… I knew what God could do… There was evidence of His faithfulness, so I could’ve had faith … but the risk of disappointment was too great, so I chose to doubt.
The world has labeled him “Doubting Thomas”, but that does not define him. This lack of faith was not the end of Thomas’ story… Thomas doubted - until he didn’t. Tradition holds that after Jesus appeared to Thomas, his faith grew and he went and spread the Word, fighting the good fight until he was martyred in India.
What about you and me? How many times must God figuratively show us His hands before we believe? How many times must God prove Himself, before we choose to die to ourselves and live for Him? Living a life of faith is a choice you need to make. It will remove anxiety from your life and replace it with the trust and hope that only God can provide.
“Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.” - Oswald Chambers
