Unless I See

Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, we have seen the Lord. So he said to them, unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe. 

John 20:24-25 

Thomas was a hard-minded realist. He demonstrated it in such instances as when Christ proposed to return to the area around Jerusalem after controversy with the Jewish leaders, who had sought to stone Him.  Thomas said, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with Him.’  When Christ appeared to the disciples on the day He rose from the dead, Thomas had not been there. Our text narrates the exchange between Thomas and the others. Once again, he reflects that hard-mindedness. In many ways, we find ourselves, like Thomas. We have faith, as he did, but we require more. We will not accept the word of someone else. We want to see for ourselves. Thus, we are often like him. Christ would be very gracious to Thomas. For the moment, let us dwell upon the hardness of Thomas to see if we can learn something from it about our own faith. What does it take for us to believe? What does God have to do more than He has done to convince us of His truth? He has given us so much revelation already. Are we really going to require more? May we pray, ‘Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.’   

Our Kind and Gracious God, 
we rejoice at what You have shown us already. 
We pray that You would enable us to believe 
all that You have already said. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning