Daily Devotionals

Easter 2022: Monday

They told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he 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 20:25

For years, I did not think I would like honey. I know it is a strange food to avoid without even trying. It seemed sticky and unnecessary to me, and I avoided it. I doubted that honey would taste good, despite the many people who told me otherwise. This caused me to avoid it at all costs. Then one day, I worked up all my courage and put it in my tea. It was delicious! Next, I added it to my sopapillas, which sealed the deal. Now I love honey. I am sad that my doubt made me miss out on honey for 27 years. That is what doubt does to us, isn’t it? Now, missing out on honey is a small thing to miss out on, but doubt causes us to miss out on far more serious things in our lives, including our faith. For Thomas, his doubt caused him to go over a week without believing that Jesus had risen from the grave.

John 20 contains the greatest news we will ever hear. A group of Jesus followers found out that Jesus had risen from the dead. Jesus first appeared to a woman named Mary Magdalene, who quickly spread the message to Jesus’ disciples. Soon, Jesus also appeared to His disciples. One of his disciples, Thomas, however, was not there. Since he was not there when Jesus appeared to the rest of His disciples, the disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” Now, as you can imagine, Thomas was skeptical. He responded, “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” (verse 25). This is a fair statement. After all, Jesus had died, and so doubting that the disciples had actually seen Jesus was reasonable. The only difference, however, is that they had actually seen Jesus. Ultimately Thomas did see Jesus as well, but Scripture teaches that it was a full 8 days until he saw Jesus after the disciples told him about their encounter with Jesus (verse 26). For over a week, Thomas lived his life missing the greatest news that Jesus had risen because of his doubt.

Don’t miss the lesson we can learn from Thomas in these verses. We can be so consumed by our doubt that we miss Jesus working in our lives and performing miracles all around us. May we develop a trust in Jesus that overcomes our doubts. May we be so confident that Jesus is who He says He is that we have faith even when we do not understand and even when life doesn't make sense.

Moving toward action

Is there an area in your relationship with God where doubt has crept in? Take some time to think about how that doubt has held you back and affected you? Has it caused you to miss God and how He is working in your life? How do God’s past provisions and work in your life give you confidence in the future and alleviate some of your doubts?

Going Deeper

John 20:1-25 (NLT)

Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed—for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. Then they went home.

Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.

“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”

She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”

She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

“Mary!” Jesus said.

She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).

“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”

Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.

That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

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 he 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.”