Thomas
Open Your Bible
John 14:1-11, John 20:24-29, Hebrews 10:36-39, Hebrews 11:1-2
BY Rebecca Faires
Some things seem just too good to be true. But there’s hope, even for doubters.
Thomas was a practical man. He needed to know how things were going to work before he would assent. Is He really risen? Show me the nail scars. How will we get to heaven? Well, someone will need to give directions or scribble down a map. Abstract concepts didn’t seem to be working for him (John 14:5). He needed the concrete facts—that’s just how Thomas thought. Actually, it’s how we all tend to think. Why walk by faith, when you can walk by carefully peer-reviewed sight? (Goodness, Thomas would have loved the fantastic process of academic peer review!) The truth is, most of us are predisposed to doubt just like Thomas.
What then are we to think of Thomas’s faith? We must not make the mistake of thinking Thomas was totally devoid of it. He did believe. Yes, he doubted until the moment He saw Christ appear before him, but Christ Himself still recognized that Thomas believed. Perhaps we could say he was a man of slow, or maybe even weak, faith. Thomas is all of us; while we say, “I do believe,” we must also cry, “help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).
Thomas’s life is a reminder of the incredible mercy of God. Jesus had spent years walking with His disciples, teaching them, explaining to them what would happen: how He would be arrested, crucified and buried, and how He would rise again. Thomas had heard all of it, again and again. But the death and resurrection of Christ was a wholly new concept, not unlike how we are slow to understand a color that’s left of red or right of indigo on the spectrum. When the fulfillment came, Thomas fled before Jesus’s captors. He had seen Jesus’s terrible death, yet he still could not come to accept that the rest would come true—that ultimately, it would end, not in sorrow, but in resurrection. It was too good to be true.
But, when at last the Savior stood before him, Jesus did not rebuke Thomas. Instead, He reassured him. He gently encouraged the doubter (John 20:27). What tender mercy! What abounding grace! It feels too good to be true.
As with Thomas, our own common sense and practical realism are often a barrier to deep faith. As with Thomas, we also often walk by sight, instead of believing that God will do just as He said. But for us, as for Thomas, there is grace. God is not threatened by your doubts, or undone by your hesitations. He is gentle and lowly of heart (Matthew 11:29). In His great patience, He calls us into the rest that He gives. The Lord, the Resurrected One who has conquered sin and death, is yet so gracious that He offers comfort to slow and foolish hearts such as ours.
“Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways!” (Romans 11:33). Despite our skepticism, He gently chides us, saying, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” (John 20:29), and then also offers us ever-increasing evidence of His faithfulness and truth. He offers mercies that are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22–23), that we may daily repent of our doubting hearts, and run to Him again in faith. The answer to all our doubts, as it was for Thomas, is Christ Himself. Fix your eyes upon Him, because the gospel is true, and our God is so very good.
38 thoughts on "Thomas"
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I don’t often post comments but today I really feel moved to! First of all, this is my first read through of a current plan with the community as it’s happening and I have loved reading all the comments and gaining different insights.
I feel particularly moved by today’s reading and devotional as someone who has struggled greatly with faith in my life. I’ve spent years on and off, believing and not believing. I used to let my doubt consume me to a point where I stopped believing. Every time Jesus seems to find me and find some way to show me He is there and gently guide me back. This past few months has been the first time I think I’ve actually really TRULY understood the word and God’s unending love and promise. So I now in times of doubt will bring that doubt to Him, and pray about it instead of going astray.
I believe, and I want to KEEP believing. I’m getting a little emotional as I write this. I really think God has worked through this Bible study to change my heart and ultimately my life. So grateful. ❤️
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So thankful you shared how the Lord has been ministering to you through this study! Such a great encouragement to me, thank you.
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❤️ thank you for telling your truth. We all need reminders. Isn’t it wonderful when our chiding makes us grateful and happy to be back in His presence?
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Oh the struggle between desiring deep, believing faith and my unbelief! It’s just been in recent months/years that I’m learning about the grace of God in this area. He can handle my “I want to believe!!!…..but forgive my unbelief!” I’m so thankful for how tenderly He loves me and understands me, like He understood Thomas.
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In my own life I find that the things I absolutely know about God sometimes are clouded by doubt possibly out of skepticism that seems to be all around me. One thing that is something I feel I struggle with is questioning whether God really can answer some prayers when I absolutely know that He does answer prayers according to His will.
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I appreciate that Thomas is honest about his doubts and unbelief. I read something that said it’s not wrong to have doubts but doubt doesn’t get to be the final destination. If we bring them to Jesus, he is faithful to take us all the way from unbelief to faith.
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Amen ❤️ happy Monday everyone
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“Academic peer review”, “our own common sense, “practical realism”, and the concrete over the abstract; these my heart and soul can relate to very much. Having been trained as a speech therapist in the sciences and the process of scientific study, I have wrestled with how to walk in the potential common good of these things while having my heart set fully on walking by faith. Sometimes I wonder if I’m trying to connect darkness with light. In some ways that has to be true as the reality of bias and corruption are in the scientific world because people are in these endeavors, sinful people. Walking through a difficult to understand illness personally, I have experienced the bias and corrupted thinking of medical professionals and institutions. Yet, I keep seeking the Lord’s face to see what good may be there. How might I walk by faith in a greater way? What do I need to fully renounce and walk away from? Yes, I am like Thomas in many ways with my confused questions and doubts. I believe, Lord Jesus; help my unbelief!
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Lord, I am often like Thomas and doubt You in what You can do. I do believe but my doubt is in what You can do at times. Please help me with this doubt because with You ALL things are possible.
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My prayer is for Jesus to capture the hearts of those who have heard and are yet to believe. I have so many examples in my life (including my own) where people proclaim to know the Lord but are slow to have resurrected faith until they themselves see a miracle Talk about a beautiful love story because He knows exactly when we need that miracle. Growing up in church we really didn’t talk much about Thomas. i am so thankful for this study because it digs deep into those individuals that can get lost in the more known stories of the Bible. Thomas’s story just shows us how God uses everyone for the purpose of His kingdom. No matter who we are, where we live or what has happened in our lives, use your story to save the eternal lives of others. Someone may cross our paths today who needs that extra encouragement of belief. May we open our eyes and hearts to those people and smile at them. (Even if it is through our mask may they will feel the warmth of Christ loving children)
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