Fear No Fear

“Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at My hands. Put your hand here and place it in My side. Do not be faithless, but believing.”” (John 20:27, MEV). We give Thomas a lot of flak over his choice not to trust in Jesus’ resurrection. But Jesus didn’t. Jesus came for him. Jesus gave him the opportunity to do what he had said he needed to do to believe. There is no evidence Thomas actually did put his finger in the wounds, but the opportunity was given. Jesus gave him the same opportunity as the others (he had appeared to them in John 20:19-23). Jesus is concerned about us. He gives us all the same opportunity. If He was still bodily on Earth, I think He’d appear to every believer to help them believe more. But there is a greater blessing when you believe WITHOUT proofs we can touch (John 20:29). It isn’t that proofs are bad. God consistently proves that He exists. But when we can place our trust in Him based solely on His WORD, on His PROMISES, we have a greater blessing. God LOVES our trust in Him. He loves that we love Him enough TO TRUST. The greatest way to please Him is to trust Him. It shows our love for Him in a way that nothing else does. Just as Jesus’ sacrifice and willingness to meet us where we are in order to call us to where He wants us is evidence of His love for us. He did all that BEFORE we loved Him. He did all that BEFORE we were in a position to love Him. He was willing to do it all just to give us the opportunity to love Him. THAT is love.