Jesus’ original disciples didn't start out as giants of faith. They had questions to wrestle with first! Maybe you do too. Sherri Kreps talks about one of the disciples – Thomas – and encourages you to follow his example of how to wrestle, trust, and grow in faith.
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Have you ever felt like you aren't good enough for God to love? Or maybe you need to get your act together or fix some things in your life before you can come to Christ? Or maybe you've been a follower of Jesus for some time and you feel like you aren't measuring up? Or you've even blown it. Hey everybody, I'm Sherry Krebs, your spiritual fitness coach. Today we're going to look at the life of Thomas, one of the twelve disciples called by Jesus to follow him. You may have heard him called "Doubting Thomas" but I want us to look at his life and see how he grew in faithfulness despite his humanity and imperfections. In John 20, we read the account of Jesus' resurrection. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early in the morning. She saw the stone rolled away and the gray closed line where Jesus had been placed. She was so distraught that she ran to get Peter and John, who came and confirmed that Jesus was no longer there. Jesus appeared to Mary, asking her why she was crying, but she thought he was the gardener until he said her name. Then she knew it was him. Mary went and announced to all the disciples that she had seen the Lord and told them about her conversation with them. That evening, the disciples were together behind a locked door because they were afraid that the same people who killed Jesus would come after them next. The Bible says that Jesus came and stood among them. He said, "Peace be with you." Then showed them his hands and his side. They were happy to see him. Starting in verse 24, the Bible says, "Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came." So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord," but he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side, I will never believe." Eight days later, his disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands and put out your hand and place it into my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. Thomas answered him, 'My Lord and my God.'" Thomas was fully human, just like you and me. Imagine what it must have been like to walk with Jesus, follow him, then watch him be brutally murdered when he was innocent, then to hear that Jesus had appeared to the disciples when he wasn't there, showing up and standing among them when he knew the door was locked, instead of being hard for anyone to believe. Being a disciple of Jesus didn't automatically make him a faith giant. His faith grew when he had evidence of the truth that Jesus rose from the dead. While some refer to him as doubting Thomas, I look at him as a man of courage to not take the word of the other disciples and to see for himself to wrestle with his faith. He boldly asked for and received physical proof that Jesus was alive. His wrestling resulted in faith fullness. He was full of faith. Do you want to win today in growing and faithfulness? Here are a few action steps. First, acknowledge that God is not looking for perfection before he allows us to follow him. He wants all of us, flaws and all. Second, realize that every human wrestles with different aspects of their faith. Thomas wasn't the only disciple to wrestle with the truth about Jesus' resurrection. Remember that Mary didn't even recognize Jesus, likely because she wasn't even believing it could be him. And the other disciples didn't believe Mary either. God showed his grace to them as they wrestled. The eleven didn't believe until Jesus actually appeared to them and then Thomas believed when Jesus appeared to him. Third, understand that God's faithfulness is not dependent on our faithfulness. And last, pray and ask God to help you grow in your faith and trust in Him. Starting to trust Him in the small things leads to growing in faith and trusting Him in the bigger things. The final words of Jesus said to Thomas were, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Now go win today." (soft music) [BLANK_AUDIO]
