Scripture tells us that on the third day after Jesus had been buried, God raised Him from the dead. Jesus showed Himself to His disciples that same day—well, to all but Thomas who was not with them at the time Jesus came. But the other disciples told Thomas they had seen the Lord.
John 20:25 says that Thomas responded, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and I put my finger into the print of the nails, and I put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” His response is interesting.
So, what was Thomas saying? Was he saying, “I will not believe what you are telling me?” Or was he saying, “I will not believe that the Lord is risen?” I don’t know what he was thinking myself, but this much I do know. Thomas was saying he needed evidence that he could see before he would allow himself to believe what he didn’t see for himself.
Later in this same area of scripture, Jesus again came to the disciples, and this time Thomas is with them. Jesus invited Thomas to touch Him and His wounds, and after that Thomas was ready to believe. But Jesus told him, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Many of us are like Thomas but more of us should be like the other disciples. Thomas had to have proof before he believed; the disciples needed not proof to believe the facts about Jesus that they knew were true whether they believed or not.
The disciples had both the work of belief and the work of faith thriving in their lives. Thomas had the presence of doubt at work in his life. Like the disciples, some of us believe the facts without question so our faith helps us to see what the facts say. Then like Thomas, some of us cannot believe the facts or have faith about God until we have our doubts disproved.
God wants us to know how belief and faith work together. They may seem like they are the same thing and in some ways they are. But with our belief, we confirm to ourselves what is the Truth about God; we tell our doubts we will believe the facts as they are. And with our faith, we can live in ways that are pleasing to God, ways that He is pleased to reward.
Our faith tells our belief you can believe the Truth even if you cannot see it. We need both belief and faith to live the life God wants us to live. Many of us live trying to disprove our doubts by working ourselves up to believe what we cannot verify. And many of us fail to live lives that are rewarded to their fullest by God because our faith is only in the experience we get when we put our hands into Jesus side.
Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” So today ask yourself to believe all that the Word says He is and have faith that is assured enough to say I don’t have to see it to believe it.
Learn to believe in the Truth about God and to have faith in what the Truth says He will do for you. When you have both belief and faith working for you, God promises to reward you richly. Live a Delivered Life. Love you.
Live Delivered 