10 May We Live by Faith, Not by Sight
Jesus was arrested by his enemies and condemned to die on the cross. And Jesus paid the price of our sins for us by His death on the cross. After Jesus’ death, God raised His beloved Son from the dead as a great victory over sin and death. Jesus then appeared to his friends and disciples to show them that He had been raised from the dead by the power and love of God.
One of the first times Jesus appeared to some of His disciples after His resurrection, Thomas was not there. The other disciples told Thomas, “We have seen the Lord,” but Thomas did not believe them. Later, Jesus came and appeared to His disciples again—and this time, Thomas was there. When Thomas finally saw Jesus for Himself, he believed. He said, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28).
Jesus told Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)
Jesus makes it clear that those of us who have not seen Him but still come to believe in Him are greatly blessed!
The people who personally witnessed Jesus’ resurrection shared their experiences with others, and many others came to believe in the risen Lord as well. They believed because they heard the testimony of the eyewitnesses.
Brothers and sisters, we too can put our faith in the testimony of eyewitnesses, which we have preserved for us in the Scriptures. Even though we have not seen Jesus for ourselves, we can come to believe in Him through the teachings of those who did see him after he was resurrected.
We are not the only ones who have believed without seeing; many Christians who were converted in the early days came to believe in Jesus even though they had not seen him:
“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:8-9)
Brothers and sisters, we can have great faith in Jesus even though we do not physically see Him. Let us examine the amazing facts shared with us by those who did see Jesus after God raised him from the dead, and let us put our faith in their testimony! This is how God enables us to come to faith. We will then experience our lives being incredibly blessed by God and Jesus. As we come to believe in their awesome love for us, and as they teach us to love one another, we will experience amazing joy, and we will show others that we are true disciples of Jesus and that God loves us all!
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