THOMAS TIME

John 20: 24 – 29


From time to time, I run into people who seemed to be strong in their faith, walking with the Lord as they say, then one day they doubt the existence of God. There are many reasons that people give as to why they came to this decision to no longer believe. I have heard it said that this person broke his faith because of perceived their prayers were not answered, others because of the death of a loved one (usually a child), and sometimes they just stop believing and question why they did at one time. Where is the proof they say, why won't God show himself to us?
These people are going through what is called Thomas time. Thomas was the disciple back in the time of Jesus who refused to believe the resurrection saying that he wouldn't until he could put his hands in the wounds on side of Jesus and see that wounds on his hands. Finally all it took for Thomas to believe was for Jesus to appear to him as alive standing there right there in front of him.

24 Now Thomas (called Didymus), 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 it."
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."

Today, we are the people who have not seen. Jesus rarely appears to us in his physical form. Yet I can still recall the day that He first made me believe. His spirit came over sitting on a bench in the rain at Boston Common. One second I was agnostic, then the next second, I knew that He was real and that He was alive, and He had relevance in my life today. He was not some character in a story from two thousand years ago.
It took me a while to come to this conclusion and belief, I went back and forth from non-belief to belief and back again, .like some pendulum swinging wildly from one extreme to another. There are other people who experience these same type of feelings, and some that just walk away never to come back.

If you, or someone you know, are in this “Thomas time”, reach out to Jesus. See the wounds on His hands. It's really not that hard to do.