John 20:24-29 “But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
Poor old Thomas has been held up as a symbol of a lack of faith for all these centuries. For over 2,000 years, Thomas has been ridiculed for his unbelief, but don’t all of us have a little Thomas in us?
Think about the promise of the Holy Spirit coming to live in us when saved. Don’t we doubt that a little bit? No? Really? If you truly believed that the Third part of God was in you and you took Him everywhere with you, would you go all the places you do and do all the things you do? I know of some men who believe it is fine to go to a bar and have a friendly beer with their friends, but do they realize that God goes with them into that bar and is subjected to all the things that occur there?
Do we remember as well the Scripture that tells us Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us? Hebrews 13:5-6 “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” This Scripture talks about our conversation with others. What is your conversation like? Does it contain sware words or things that are off color? If Jesus is with you and the Holy Spirit lives in you, then unless you have a little Thomas in you, you’d never sware, would you?
God living in us is a wonderful benefit. The Holy Spirit is to be our comforter and teacher. He allows us to understand Scripture that thwe world cannot understand. When a lost man read the Bible, it reads like a fairy tale to him because he lacks the Holy Spirit to interpret for him, yet you (if you are saved) have the Holy Spirit living in you to guide you into understanding what the Bible’s message is.
A multitude of people know about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, how He lived a victorious life over sin, died a vicarious death to pay the wages of sin, and rose to newness of life, but do you actually believe it? Why wouldn’t they jump at the chance to be saved from hell and the eternal torment that is in it? Is it because of the way Christians live that they can’t seem to believe it?
Does you life reflect the change that Paul said would come to you? 2Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Romans 6:6 “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”
Ephesians 4:22-24 “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” When we willingly do things we know (by scripture or by our conscience) that are wrong we actually give the devil a foothold into our lives. Our public testamony, that should represent Christ, is corrupted and people doubt God’s word because of us. “If he represents Christ, I don’t want to be one!” some poor sinner once said.
Ephesians 4:27 “Neither give place to the devil.” If we want to live as we have in the past remember this: The old man – That is, the whole body of sin. All sinful desires are deceitful; promising the happiness which they cannot give. copied Christian, if you are saved, you have a obligation to live right. If you are a Christian you are required to life up Christ so that all men might be drawn to Him. Is that possible with dirty hands? Thomas got it right in the end. Will you?
