From Faltering to Faithful
This week we’ve seen how the risen Christ brings peace to the panicked, happiness to the heartbroken, purpose to the paralyzed, but friends none of this can happen in our lives, if he doesn’t bring faith to the faltering.
If we don’t believe that Jesus is alive and present right now and filling us now, we forfeit these blessings.
We read “He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself!” (Luke 24:38–39 NIV11)
They were initially full of doubt – faltering in their belief. Maybe you too are listening to this today saying ah it’s all a bit airy fairy. How is Jesus here today?
Faith Over Doubt
Well, He is here through His Holy Spirit. His Holy Spirit is wherever you are in this moment, it is in the Spirit that Jesus manifests today.
But you’ve got to believe it to see it!
Thomas was once a faithful disciple of Jesus. But after going through what he did, he began to doubt! In John’s telling of this story we read: “Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”” (John 20:27–29 NIV)
The one thing that unlocks all the others is faith. Belief that Jesus is the Son of God. That He is here now, standing in our midst. That He is willing to bless you in these ways.
Hear the words of Jesus: stop doubting and believe! STOP DOUBTING AND BELIEVE he said!
Is God prompting you now to throw yourself at Jesus’ feet? Is there something blocking you, some doubt? Worry about what the other people will think if you were to respond in some way?
Embrace Faith Today
Stop doubting! They saw him, they put their fingers in the wounds on his side. He was seen by multiple people, it was captured in multiple historical sources that are widely accepted as factual.
Believe! Believe!
It is when we go from faltering to faithful that God’s blessings begin to unlock in our lives.
And so my prayer today is that as the risen Christ appears to you, and maybe startles you with His presence through the Holy Spirit, that you will lay aside your faltering and doubt, and believe.
And all it takes is faith the size of a mustard seed. Offer God that, and watch how He grows it into something strong and firm and wonderful.
