Doubt and Unbelief

"For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame." (Hebrews 6:4)

Thomas is often referred to as ‘doubting Thomas.’ He is not alone in his doubts. All the disciples were unbelieving of the resurrection of Jesus... except John. Remember the tomb event with Peter? Why did Thomas reply ‘my Lord and my God’ when he met Jesus and touched the scars? I doubt that he had to touch the scars, seeing Jesus would have been more than enough. That moment of repentance was driven by the realization that Thomas was standing in the presence of the one who had died for his sins. Jesus paid a horrific price for us to be free and when we choose not to believe we dishonor Him and ‘put Him to open shame.’

This unbelief comes in many ways beside choosing whether or not to believe that Jesus is risen from the dead like Thomas. That was his unbelief, but what is ours? What do we choose to not believe about the Savior? His faithfulness, His promises to us, that he will ‘never leave us,’ that despite our doubt and unbelief that He will ‘never forsake us’? The list is endless and you have to fill in the blank as you answer the question for yourself.

What I do know ‘beyond the shadow of any doubt’ is that Jesus is supremely worth of our trust and our belief in Him. No one has ever done for us what Jesus did for us. I cannot imagine if we had a father in the flesh who set us up for life and then handed that to us out of love. How would he feel if we stepped away saying that we

did not believe him. No wonder the Scriptures tell us that we can ‘grieve the Holy Spirit’ It grieves me and literally breaks my heart that I do not believe and trust Jesus when He is standing next to me with the scars of pain in His hands. I am the doubting Thomas and like Thomas I can only say, ‘My Lord and My God.’