Tag: Thomas

“Blessed are those who have not seen, but believe”.- Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior of our World

A child’s faith is a beautiful, precious gift.   It accepts without question the amazing love that God has for us.  But as we grow into adults, each one of us will struggle at some time in our life to cross the bridge between a faith that is young and untried to a faith that will withstand any challenge.  The question isn’t whether we will ever experience doubts, but rather what we will do when they occur.  Perhaps one of the most important things we can do during those times is realize that Jesus does not love us any less on the days where faith does not come easy.

We know that to be true because after Jesus rose, one of his own apostles, Thomas had doubts.  In fact, so much so that after the other apostles had seen Jesus,  Thomas said that “Unless I see the mark of the nails — in fact, until I touch those marks and put my hand in the wound in his side, I will not believe,”.  But Jesus did not stop loving him.  For only a short time later, Jesus came and stood among the apostles and said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands.  Reach out your hand and put it into my side.  Stop doubting and believe.   And Thomas believed.  And then Jesus told Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

You see, Jesus loved Thomas, just as He loves us.   He forgave him his doubts.  Just as He forgives us ours.  We can’t help how we feel, nor can we change the fact that we will go through times in our life when we struggle. What we can do though, is choose what we do during those times. We can choose to follow Jesus or we can choose to turn away. We can choose to surround ourselves with those whose faith will help to build our own, or we can choose to spend time with those who would tear down our faith. We can choose to turn to the Word of God or we can choose the word of those who do not believe.  The choice, as always is ours.

So if you are struggling with doubts or questions.  If you have faith, but sometimes wonder if it’s enough.  If you believe, but occasionally wonder and worry.  Stop worrying.  You have chosen to follow our Lord-and that is enough.   For Jesus’ love never changes and it will never falter.  So no matter where you are in your walk with the Lord, just keep walking.  It’s enough.