Do you believe you are blessed? Do you only believe what you can see with your own eyes? Do you believe what others tell you? Does it depend on who they are and your judgment on their trustworthiness? Will you believe in something you have neither seen nor experienced?
Belief can be a tricky thing. We have all fallen prey to believing something others have told us, only to find out later it was untrue. There are some people we know who we do not believe any further than we could throw them. We have deemed them untrustworthy based on experience.
I don’t believe Thomas thought his fellow disciples were untrustworthy. He simply could not step out in faith based on what they told him, which was opposed to what he had experienced. He saw Jesus arrested. He knew Jesus had been condemned to die on a cross, whether he was there when Pilate condemned Him or not. He also knew that no one survived a Roman crucifixion. So, Thomas was not blindly disregarding what the disciples told him.
Eventually, Thomas sees the risen Christ and falls on his knees to worship Him. He believes because he saw Him. But Jesus says those who have not seen Him and believe are blessed. That means we are blessed. Why? We are blessed to have a faith that is based on the testimony of others. Namely the writers of the New Testament. It is a blessing to be given our faith without having witnessed what we are putting our faith in.
I pray we all believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I pray we believe that He was crucified, buried, and rose again on the third day. I pray each one of us realize we are blessed to have a faith in something and someone we have not seen nor witnessed for ourselves. Believe Jesus is the Son of God. Believe Jesus was crucified. Believe Jesus rose on the third day. Be blessed in your faith.
John 20:29: Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
Marty Pressey 