Stop Doubting and Believe

Christ Displaying His Wounds, Giovanni Antonio Galli, c. 1630. Oil on canvas, 132 × 99 cm. Perth Museum and Art Gallery, Scotland, United Kingdom.

“Jesus I Believe” from the album Beautiful Offerings. Composed by Jason Ingram and Michael Weaver. Performed by Big Daddy Weave.

Poetry:

“Be Believing”
by Tamara Hill Murphy

Later on
that day / the dark room
was enough
to concoct buttoned down
in our minds.
While we lingered bolted-in
shut-up / You
breezed past barricade as One
hole-pocked / exhaling
absolution, a hot gust
peace be with you;
materializing new
as Yourself / awake & alive
after the woman's claim
you spoke her name.
afraid / our fingers
trace your split side
'til we inhale
Your closer breathing
our truer air

STOP DOUBTING AND BELIEVE

Today’s devotional focuses on the experience of Thomas encountering the resurrected Christ. Leading up to this encounter, Jesus had appeared to several of his disciples in a locked room shortly after he rose from the dead. Thomas, however, was not among them at the time. He famously said, “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hands into His side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25b) Thomas was like all of us in our flesh. While Jesus was involved in his earthly ministry, people kept asking for signs, but even after he performed many miracles, many still did not believe that He was God (John 12:37). Just seeing a miracle or even the resurrected Christ will not generate faith––yet for those of us who have faith, physical signs can encourage us, and I think this is what happened to Thomas. We inhabit physical bodies in a physical world, part of God’s creation, and it is easier sometimes for us to feel something is real when we can see and touch it. Once Jesus stood in front of him and showed him His hands and asked him to put a finger in His side, Thomas proclaimed, “My Lord and my God!”

The painting by Giovanni Antonio Galli,Christ Displaying His Wounds is a picture of what Jesus may have looked like to Thomas. Tamara Hill Murphy’s poem, “Be Believing” reveals both the physical and spiritual aspects of the resurrected Christ, “who breezed past barricades as One hole-pocked…” The poem further explores the disciples touching Him, “…our fingers trace your split side ‘til we inhale your closer breathing our truer air…” And the song, “Jesus I Believe,” expresses our longing to feel Jesus with us and around us.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Mark 9:24. Jesus had just cast a demon out of a boy, and the boy’s father proclaimed, “I believe; help my unbelief!” As Jesus said to his sleeping disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41) We need the Holy Spirit to believe in God and to trust in Jesus because we do not naturally do so. Like Thomas, when life’s waves come, I find myself doubting God’s power and goodness, sometimes even his existence. I need to cry out to the Holy Spirit, “I do believe! Help my unbelief!”

Jesus tells Thomas, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” We need to remember that in a sense it is spiritual weakness to always seek physical signs and wonders to bolster our faith. As Scripture says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7)

Prayer:
Lord, thank you that you have risen! Thank you for all that you have done for us and help us to trust You even in the midst of life’s ups and downs when we do not feel you are near. Help us to consistently walk by faith. And when we falter, help our unbelief.
In Jesus Name,
Amen.

Dr. Alicia M. Dewey
Professor of History
Biola University