Believe and Be Blessed

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

BELIEVE AND BE BLESSED

John 20:24-31

24 Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." 26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"  27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."  28 Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."  30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

NIV

For many years Thomas has been labeled as “The Doubting Thomas”, but that is what we believe is a bad rap. Thomas just did not want to take the word of the others, as he wanted to experience Jesus for himself. It is the same as with us. How could we believe in Jesus just because someone says they believe in Jesus? We need to experience Jesus for ourselves, just like Thomas. Besides, Thomas was the first of any of the disciples to call Jesus, his Lord and his God. Peter declared to Jesus that he believed Jesus was the Son of the living God, but never called Jesus, “My Lord and my God” as Thomas did. Of course Jesus made it clear that Thomas believed because he saw Jesus first hand for himself, however, blessed are those, such as us, who have not seen and yet believe. But just because we have not actually seen Jesus physically like Thomas did, we have experienced Jesus in our lives. He has touched our hearts and minds and we have seen miracles happen. He has sent the Holy Spirit who lives within us and testifies to the truth. We just know that we know that we know the truth of the gospel message. We have the confidence because the Spirit bears witness to Jesus. This is not an intellectual investigation that has developed our theology regarding the triune God, but an inner knowing, an experiential happening within. We can also know that we are blessed because we believe. The void people who do not believe have created many negative emotions that we are not prone to. We know the peace of God. We know the Joy of the Lord. We know the love of Christ. We know of our eternal life. Those who do not believe cannot know what we do. But we can tell them so they too can believe and be blessed.