Have you heard the phrase “doubting Thomas” and been unsure where it comes from? The term comes from the story in John 20, in which the disciple Thomas refuses to believe that the Lord has risen again, saying, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails…I will not believe.”
Most people have doubting Thomas times in their own lives, times when their faith is challenged.
Think of such a time in your life and reflect on what it took to bring you to believing. Was it the same thing that you thought it would take?
When the Lord showed Himself to Thomas, He invited him to “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands…. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Yet, Thomas, who had doubted and refused to believe, did not really need to touch the Lord. Instead, he immediately replied “My Lord and my God!”
What a complete turn-around from disbelief to a recognition of the Lord’s divinity!
Are there times in your life when you have experienced a similar swift change in your faith? Can you pinpoint a moment when some truth, perhaps one you had known about intellectually for a long time, suddenly became real for you? How did this impact your relationship with God? Did your doubt lead to belief? How did that show up in your life? Doubting can lead to belief when we are willing to see the Lord’s divinity in our lives.
