We read about the disciple Thomas in Gospel of John chapter 20. After Christ was crucified the disciples didn’t know what to do next. They had their life turned upside down in a matter of days. The only thing they did was believe in Christ and follow Him, and here they found themselves enemies of the church. They found themselves alienated by the people. So we find the disciples locked away in a second story room in Jerusalem. In Mark we read they were getting ready to eat, in Luke they were talking to the followers who encountered Jesus on the road to Emmaus, in John they are hiding because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. They had locked the door for protection, yet Christ came in and stood among them. “May Peace be with you”, is what Christ said when He was with them. They were scared for their lives and Christ is talking about being at Peace. Now, Thomas was not with them when Christ first visited the disciples. When told about it, Thomas didn’t believe it. We read in John 20:25,
They told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands,
put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”
He had to see it, had to touch it. It wasn’t good enough to be told, he had to experience it. How many of us know someone who is the same. They have to see it with their own eyes. Talking about it just isn’t good enough for them. They are skeptical of what others have experienced until they experience it themselves. So how do we help those skeptics experience God? Well for Thomas, he wanted to touch the wounds. See the wounds that allowed Thomas to identify Christ, we painful for Christ. The scars proved who Christ was to the disciples because they saw Christ receive those wounds when the nails were driven through his wrists and His side was split open. We cant dismiss our past scars, we have to be able to heal them with Christ. When people see us get hurt they watch our reactions, they watch how we handle the situations of life. When we are willing to share our scars and let people “put their fingers” in our wounds, we can help them experience Christ. The same way Christ’s scars proved who He was to His disciples, our scars can help prove that we are children of God. But we have to be willing to let people see our wounds. Now that doesn’t mean we bear all to complete strangers, but we have to be able to answer questions about who we were before Christ, how we met Christ, and who we are with Christ. Give it some thought, continue to study God’s word and remember, Always Do Good for God.
Rick
