How many times in your life have you challenged someone’s information about a specific activity or action by saying, “I won’t believe it till I see it for myself”? I am sure we have all made this comment on a number of occasions. There may be certain things which may be hard to accept on face value. We generally want more proof or evidence before we will just blindly believe. Seeing with our own eyes is in many cases the default mode we fall into when presented with data that appears sketchy.
In one of the Scripture readings for this Sunday, we read about good old doubting Thomas. This follower of Jesus and one of His close twelve has taken a pretty heavy beating over the years. In fact, the idea of using his name to refer to a person, who is not willing to believe another individual’s account, is rather common: “Apparently, you must be a doubting Thomas”. But, realistically, we could all be called doubting Thomas’s in one way or another.
In context of Thomas’ disbelief there was a direct connection to his lack of faith in the resurrection of His Lord. Even though Jesus said He would rise after three days in the grave, Thomas still had His reservations about what the other disciples told him. Faith has been defined as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. Hebrews 11:1
Faith can be used as a noun as in I have faith. Faith can also be used as a verb as in “to believe in something”. Faith becomes more valid when it is put into action “literally faithing or living out your faith”. Scripture tells us that faith, as a Christian, comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God. Romans 10:17 To be able to experience true faith in Jesus Christ, and more direct in His resurrection, is a gift of God which comes by the Holy Spirit working in our hearts and minds. May you and I be forever blessed to be able to live in the certainty of Christ’s resurrection by faith and not by sight. Seeing does not have to be the criteria for believing, when God is involved. Pastor McCarty
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