Friday 15 Nov 2013

Friday Reading: John 20:25-29

Key Verse: John 20:25
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.”

Devotion:
Yes, I’m guilty of doubt! Go on, admit it too! We all like to think that we would not be in the same position as Thomas found himself, faced with Christ showing Him physical proof so that he would stop doubting… but we all find ourselves in that same position time and time again. Whether it is someone telling us of something that has happened to them where they have been blessed by God or something that has yet to come that they are sure God will deliver them from – we all doubt!

God wants us to see that we have the absolute truth set down before us in His Word. We have this all written down that we may believe it. The disciples spent so much time together with Christ and with each other that they should have had no doubt whatsoever when they told each other things that happened… and yet Thomas chose to doubt on this occasion. Christ allowed it so that we would get the story down in writing that we may believe!

When Christ shows us things in our lives we should already have been in a place where we believed. We should not have to wait until we see the proof so that we can believe. God has asked us to have faith not eye witnesses only! Faith is believing in the unseen or believing in what is to come, not believing because we have just seen it or just been shown proof!

God is going to allow many things through our lives where we are going to doubt, but unless we can work past those things our faith is going to shrink rather than grow. God allows these things so that our faith grows and is not dashed against the rocks. The evil on is the one who is going to try to give us more things to doubt about instead of building up our faith – don’t let him in the door to cast doubt around otherwise you may well start believing that doubt instead of the truth!

Points to Ponder:
How strong is your faith?

How strong is your doubt?