Daily Devotion for June 13, 2006

An Unbelievable Sight

 

So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” A week later his disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them. Though 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; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” John 20:25-27

 

Believe it! It sounds so easy, but I, like doubting Thomas, often ask the Lord for proof. It all seems too unbelievable. Rising from the dead? How can someone rise from the dead?
 
There was a time when I was dead-spiritually-and through Christ I am alive in spirit now. But how quickly I forget His power in my life, especially when faced with believing in someone else’s resurrection. Isn’t this the same God who rescued me from the jaws of death? Can He not do the same for someone else? Why do I demand proof?

 

I know that God calls us to be redeemers- in which we claim His victory in the life of other’s - we are to forgive and forget their sins just as God has ours - as far as the east is from the west. Not for our glory - but for God’s. We release them from the chains of their past mistakes just as Christ has released us. Doesn’t the Bible tell us “to forgive as we have been forgiven”, and “that if we do not forgive the sins of others, our Father in heaven will not forgive us”?

 

 Whew! That is powerful stuff. We struggle with the belief that they have resurrected from their spiritual death and we fail to believe in their new life. We want to “see” the holes in their hands- we want proof that their death was real.

 

 So if Faith believes in what we do not see but what we hope for, do we not hope for a resurrection in the lives of those who proclaim to know Christ? Why then do we demand immediate proof of their new life?

 

 Jesus went on in verse 29 and tells us, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” That my friends, is a walk of faith! Believing without seeing first!

 

Prayer
Father God, I praise you for the resurrection of my life. I praise you because you are in the business of redeeming lost and broken lives. Help my unbelief - not in other people - but my unbelief in your presence in their lives. Help me Lord, to trust you to complete the work you have begun in all of us, regardless of what I see. Help me Lord to be a vessel of your redemption for others, that I would always see them through your eyes and not my own. Amen.

 

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Tim Hetzner - President - Lutheran Church Charities
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