Over the years, I have had many conversations with people who experience doubt. For some, it is the suffering they see in the world. For others, it is the feeling that science has refuted everything religion offers, and so the Bible is nothing but fairy tales. And still, for others, it is a personal tragedy that leaves them with the nagging question: Is all of this true?
Maybe you have the same doubts from time to time (or all the time). Like Thomas, you are a realist. We just celebrated Christmas, and you know that there is no such thing as a “virgin” birth. You’ve never seen someone rise from the dead, so how is that even possible? How could a person pay for all my sins?
It’s easy to criticize Thomas for his doubts, but the truth is that many of us live with similar hesitations. After all, Jesus is no longer on earth for us to see and touch. We cannot have the same experience as the first disciples who walked with him after his resurrection. So, we need Jesus to prepare us for the challenges of skepticism and doubt in our own lives.
And that is what we hope to unpack this week as we come together in worship. Though we may not have the opportunity to feel the wounds of the cross with our own hands or to see and feel the hands of Jesus, we still have the testimony of those whose lives were changed by the Lord’s power. We still have their witness. We still have their willingness to give their lives for their faith. Surely, that says something to us!
What does John say in John 20:30-31? “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name.” As we will see this week, we live in an uncertain world, and God welcomes the questions and the people with the questions. But the hope and prayer is that we will come to the same beautiful, certain confession as Thomas: “My Lord and my God!”
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Aaron
Maybe you have the same doubts from time to time (or all the time). Like Thomas, you are a realist. We just celebrated Christmas, and you know that there is no such thing as a “virgin” birth. You’ve never seen someone rise from the dead, so how is that even possible? How could a person pay for all my sins?
It’s easy to criticize Thomas for his doubts, but the truth is that many of us live with similar hesitations. After all, Jesus is no longer on earth for us to see and touch. We cannot have the same experience as the first disciples who walked with him after his resurrection. So, we need Jesus to prepare us for the challenges of skepticism and doubt in our own lives.
And that is what we hope to unpack this week as we come together in worship. Though we may not have the opportunity to feel the wounds of the cross with our own hands or to see and feel the hands of Jesus, we still have the testimony of those whose lives were changed by the Lord’s power. We still have their witness. We still have their willingness to give their lives for their faith. Surely, that says something to us!
What does John say in John 20:30-31? “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name.” As we will see this week, we live in an uncertain world, and God welcomes the questions and the people with the questions. But the hope and prayer is that we will come to the same beautiful, certain confession as Thomas: “My Lord and my God!”
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Aaron
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