Living Blessed or Living a Blessed Life

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

LIVING BLESSED

OR

LIVING A BLESSED LIFE

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

It appears the only reason Jesus came back, in the same manner, he did the first time he appeared to his disciples was specifically for Thomas. Jesus also made it clear to Thomas that he knew exactly what Thomas had said to the others when they told him they had seen the Lord. Jesus spoke directly to the heart of Thomas by telling him to stop doubting and believe. Here is where Thomas has gotten that bad rap and that title of the doubting Thomas. He simply wanted to see for himself. It is one thing for someone to tell us they have seen the Lord, or that Jesus did this or that for them, but unless Jesus does something for that person, it is very difficult for them to believe. Perhaps not everyone who calls themselves a Christian has had some supernatural experience with Jesus. That is why Jesus said to Thomas that blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. It takes faith to believe in something one has never seen or seen as a result of Jesus being alive and answering prayer. Of course, there may be people who attend church who may not be believers in the sense of how we use that word. Some might attend church out of a sense of duty, or because they feel they should have some religion in their lives. Jesus is talking about those who truly believe he is the Son of God and that He actually came to earth through a supernatural work of the Spirit in the life of a virgin. They believe he lived and did all that is recorded in the gospels and that he died and shed his blood for the remission of our sins. They also believe he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God, who would be the Father. These are the ones Jesus says are blessed. That Greek word blessed carries the meaning of fortunate, well off, and that by extension carries the meaning of happy, content, satisfied, and fulfilled. This would mean as believers we would not have discontentment, or be unsatisfied with our lot in life, or that we would always be in want, for we always felt unfulfilled. Do we separate the “blessed are” into the spiritual and the physical? Do we just think that we are blessed, happy, content, fulfilled, satisfied in our spirit, and our physical life can still be about discontentment, dissatisfaction, and no fulfillment? We think that is not the case. If we are blessed by the Lord, then all our life is blessed. We have to remember he met the physical needs of people throughout his earthy ministry. He healed them physically, he fed them, he touched the sick, and he lifted a dead girl back to life and called his friend back from the grave. No, our faith includes our whole life, every aspect of our lives are blessed because we believe in Jesus. Thomas may have been pegged as the doubting Thomas, but he is the first of the disciples to call Jesus, my Lord, and my God. That is where our faith rests as well. We know that Jesus is our Lord and our God. He knows every aspect of our lives, as he not only created us, but he dwells within us in the person of the Spirit. Our spirit bears witness to his presence in us, in our lives. We live blessed.