Unless I see…

I am one of those people that unless I see it, I am not going to believe it. And, because I struggle with my eye sight, something might be right in front of my face and I still miss it. Does that make me a “Doubting Thomas?” Maybe, but I think it is just who I am.

If someone had told me the whole world was going to shut down for months because of a mysterious virus, I would not have believed it. But sometimes God is trying to show us something in order for us to believe on a deeper level.

I don’t really plan my blogs. I feel like the ideas, pictures, songs and scriptures have a funny way of finding me. When I look back, I can see that God was actually trying to show me something.

“Unless I see for myself…” 

In early January, jokingly I said, “2020 would be the year of perfect vision.” I have always wanted to see better and thus I began writing blogs about spiritual sight; Let’s go and see for ourselves. “Do you see what I see?,” “Restore your sight,” “How far can you see?,” and “Strengthen my spiritual eyes.” Each week, God lead me to a new lesson, even though I could not see it. All the while, God was revealing new insights of who God is and who God is in me. Little did I know, God was preparing me for the pandemic.

Celebrating Easter in a new and unusual way, God lead me alongside Jesus to his death and His appearances after. Reading stories I had read a 100 times before, God revealed lessons I had missed. Jesus and His stories became alive. As I walked the Road to Emmaus with those two disciples, I began to understanding that God does the revealing. Anything I see is because of Him.

That brings us to our lesson today. Thomas, the only one who has not seen Jesus since He died is the same one that said, ‘unless I see…, I will not believe.” I think I can relate to this guy.

John 20:24-29 NIV reads;

Now Thomas…, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵ 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.”

²⁶ 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!” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

²⁸ Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹ Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

“Though the doors were locked…”

In these months of isolation, God has come and stood before me. Even after His death, Jesus is becoming more real to Thomas and to me. Experiencing God makes me realize, the deeper I go, the more there is to know. Thomas lived life with Jesus before His death. He saw the miracles and accepted Jesus as the Messiah. But after He died, even after hearing from his friends about the sightings, he still could not believe. He needed to see for himself. And so do I.

This story of Thomas should encourage us all that it is okay to want to see for yourself. Know that Jesus will come to you through a locked door, a closed mind or a hard heart. Because God meets us exactly where we are. If I need to see to believe, God shows up and lets me see. But we don’t just want to see to believe. We want to know the depths of His love for us, the sacrifices He’s made for us, the sicknesses He’s healed for us. We want to know Him because whether we know or not, to know Him is the love Him.

Let us pray;

God of all that is, open my eyes that I might see. Come and stand before me. Let me see You so that I might believe. Let me believe so that I might know you and know you well. In Jesus’ name, Amen. -M

P.S. –  Leave me a comment below because I love to hear from you. Forward this message to a friend that needs some encouragement today. Share to your page on Facebook. See you here next week, when we discover why Jesus needed Thomas to believe. As always, live a life of love just as God loves us! -M