Dr. Rick Mandl - September 25, 2020
Believing Is Seeing
Devotional Manuscript: Believing Is Seeing
By Dr. Rick Mandl, Spetmeber 25, 2020
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.
Hey church family. Great to be coming to you today through this video devotional. I’m grateful for the technology that allows us to stay connected in this way. At the same time, I’m looking forward to an opportunity for us to see each other face-to-face this Sunday evening. This Sunday, September 27th at 6:00PM we have an opportunity to gather together for outdoor worship in our church parking lot. You don’t need a reservation, just bring yourself, maybe your camping chair and picnic blanket and join us for an evening of worship. I’m looking forward to seeing many of you there. And speak of seeing...
This week I was once again reading the story of one of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances to his disciples. John chapter 20 tells us, “One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But THOMAS replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side” (John 20-24-25 NLT). There’s an old saying that “Seeing is Believing.” And the disciple Thomas may have been one of the first to subscribe to it.
Thomas was a devoted disciple of Jesus. The other disciples had already seen Jesus in His resurrected body, but for reasons we’re not told, Thomas hadn’t been present at the time. That put Thomas in bad company. The only other one among the twelve who hadn’t seen the risen Jesus was Judas Iscariot. When the others told Thomas about Jesus, he was skeptical and wanted to see for himself. Thomas had his doubts and his doubting earned him the name “doubting Thomas,” which has been handed down through the years.
Finally, a week after his resurrection, Jesus appeared when Thomas was present, and Jesus invited Thomas to see for himself. He invited him to examine the evidence. And the result was that Thomas believed. As a result of that Jesus said something that wasn’t just meant for Thomas, but for you and me as well. He said, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” Jesus’ rebuke is clear enough. There were others who had not yet seen Jesus, but still believed in his resurrection. And Jesus tells Thomas and he tells you and me that their believing was more blessed than Thomas’s seeing. Why?
Because those saints relied on their eyes of faith more than the eyes in their heads. This is why Peter, who was one of Thomas’s fellow eyewitness, would later on write, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8–9).
Faith, as the Bible describes it, is not blind. Unbelief is blind. Faith sees a reality beyond what eyes can see, a reality that God reveals to us which is more important, and is in fact more real, than what we can see with our physical eyes. Thomas had heard Jesus once say, “I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind” (John 9:39). Jesus had come to open the eyes of the heart. Eyesight was never a guarantee that people really “saw” Jesus. Judas Iscariot was the greatest witness to this tragic truth. Like he did for the other ten, Jesus forgave Thomas of his failure of faith and graciously restored him.
But because of Thomas’s unbelief, Jesus made him a gracious example for all of us of the truth that contrary to what we like to say, which is “seeing is believing” we need to realize that in God’s economy “believing is seeing.” If we’re having a hard time seeing Jesus, Thomas teaches us not to declare, “Unless I see I will never believe,” But instead... “I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). Amen.
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA
From Series: "Daily Devotional Videos"
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